Ill 



Shark Fishing 5 5 



then you will have some idea of what these warbuka 

 were like ; and these fish had been caught — caught off 

 a steamer — without trouble or delay, close to the very 

 rocks off which we had imperilled our existences over 

 and over again. Had it been done by any other 

 mortals than H.R.H. and the Governor I should have 



said ! ! ! As it was, I contented myself with 



saying that the loyalty of the Colonies was not quite 

 extinct, even among the fishes. 



' The New Zealand shark is by no means a hasty 

 and ravenous feeder. Don't go after him with a 

 monstrous meat -hook and a gigantic jack -chain, 

 such as you will see offered for sale in the shops of 

 Auckland. In ordinary cases the same tackle will 

 do perfectly well for both snapper and shark, and 

 perhaps the best way of having fun with the latter 

 is to go out fishing for the former. The shark 

 comes up like a woodcock in a dull pheasant battue 

 when there is no ground game. The first hint that 

 you have hooked him — which generally comes when 

 the snappers have knocked off a little — is a sensation 

 as if you had hooked the bottom of the universal 

 sea and it was sliding right away from you. Away 

 goes the line, snoring away, quietly and gently ; and 

 then, if you can get in a pull, it is by no means 

 unlikely that your shark — who, when he is not put 

 out, really seems to be an easy-tempered sort of 

 brute — will permit himself to be wheedled up to 

 within two or three feet of the top of the water. 

 When he catches sight of you, however, he, not being 



