202 THE FISH POT OP THE CAEIBBEAN SEA. 



having passed through the pear-shaped mouths find themselves in a 

 cul-de-sac and unable to get out. 



The cables used for fish pots an usually of two kinds ; either the 

 large and strong pliable stems of curtain withes, or a two-ply rope 

 made from the shredded leaves of the silver thatcli {Thrinax argentia). 

 Of the withes those generally used are the velvet {Cissampelos 

 pareiva) and the large milk [Melastelma parviflorum) , and, when they 

 can be procured, the Iron and Old Tom withes. As may be supposed, 

 it is not always possible to obtain these withes of the requisite size 

 and strength for the larger pots, and when this is the case the cable 

 is formed by twisting two or more together into a rough rope. 

 These withes are of great value to the sea-fisherman, for with the 

 silver thatch they form not only cables but cordage, and it is seldom 

 that a yard of imported manufactured rope is seen in a fishing 

 village or on the canoes. The withes and thatch above enumerated 

 are not only strong but very durable, outlasting the pots, and under 

 favorable circumstances, with care, a cable will serve two sets of 

 pots. These withes are found and collected in the woods, suspended 

 from large trees, or like tendrils encircling trunks and branches. 



There is no more useful and valuable plant to the fisherman of 

 these seas than the silver thatch, which on rocky soils and in droughty 

 districts grows in great abundance. This small thatch plays an 

 impoi'tant part in the fisherman^s economy as from its leaves he 

 manufactures all his cordage and much of his cables. 



The leaf is fan -shaped, the upper surface a bright glazed green, 

 the under-leaf a silvery-grey and velvety, growing to a diameter of 

 from two to three feet. The plant is usually found only a few feet 

 in height, but will grow if undisurbed to a height of ten to twelve 

 and fifteen feet. The leaves when required for twisting are shredded 

 off the centre stalk which runs along its whole length, and these 

 shreds are then twisted into a two-ply rope for cordage, a three-ply 

 with thicker strands being used as cables. These ropes and cord- 

 age are exceedingly strong, their tensile strength being consider- 

 able, and the action of the salt water has very little effect upon their 

 durability. The fishermen and fisherboys are adepts at twisting this 

 thatch, and I have watched and known a boy of twelve or thirteen 

 years get through his twenty-five fathoms in a day, not of continuous 

 but spasmodic work, every now and again leaving off to spend 

 ten or twenty minutes at a time in the waves as they roll up the 

 sandy beach. 



The pot now being ready for use is taken out to sea and lowered 

 at some desirable spot, the locality and depth being selected to suit 

 the idiosyncrasies of the owner. If snappers {Messoprion uninotatus, 

 and M. chrysurus) are wanted the pot will be deposited in from ten 



