NOTES ON FISHING METHODS OF THE SOUTH SEAS. 819 
off a considerable distance, in some places a third of a mile, in others 
a few hundred feet, forming a shallow lagoon, in which fishing may be 
performed in all weather. During a storm, when the sea is breaking 
on the outside reef the lagoon is smooth. 
The reef nets are 75 to 100 feet long and average 8 feet in depth, 
with a 33-inch mesh. They are made of two-stranded cocoanut fiber, 
which is strong and capable of bearing considerable strain; floats of 
koa wood, 6 inches long and 24 inches in diameter, are placed from 4 
to 5 inches apart. On the foot line are heavy shells. These nets 
answer every purpose of a seine, though not used in the same manner. 
They are not dragged, chiefly on account of the rough bottom; neither 
is a canoe used in setting them. 
From 10 to 12 women gather a net up in their arms and carry it to 
the edge of the lagoon, where they wait for the appearance of fish. 
When a school or a number of fish is seen the women form a semi- 
circle, carrying the net in front of them, wading out and dropping it 
around the place where the fish were observed, and quickly drawing 



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Dip Net, Kusaie. 
together the ends. The two women holding the ends begin beating 
the water with sticks, to frighten away from the mouth any fish that 
may be near it. Soon one of the women steps over the net and also 
splashes the water with a stick. This causes the fish to scatter, many 
of them jumping over the cork rope. Fish that jump over the net 
are prevented from making their escape by a second net, 20 by 8 feet, 
attached to poles, the poles resting on the bottom and held at an angle. 
The hand net is hung soas to forma kind of bag into which the fish 
fall. In addition to the square hand net for capturing fish that jump 
over the cork line, large dip nets are held in readiness by the women 
stationed along the outside. Finally, the large net is gathered into a 
small compass, picked up, and the contents are emptied into the bas- 
kets. After a haul has been made, the net is carried to another part 
of the lagoon or reef and is again set. This performance is frequently 
repeated with no success. 
Our experience had been that few fish could be approached near 
enough to capture with a seine, even when exercising great caution, 
and how these people managed to capture a single individual with such 
rude apparatus was to us a source of considerable wonder. 
