485 MODERN SEA FISHING 



The Polynesians have an ingenious form of sport some- 

 thing in the nature of a battue. A number of rafts are joined 

 together to form a water compound on some shallow beach 

 frequented by fish. A couple of men, working from a small 

 canoe in the centre, thrash the water and drive the fish to- 

 wards the boundaries. Numbers of fish in their terror leap, 

 strike against the outer fence of the raft, and so quickly find 

 their way to the baskets. On the reefs, spearing by throwing 

 with one or both hands is practised. The hooks are made of 

 shell and bone, and answer the double purpose of hook and 

 bait, some of the small ones being circular and twisted into 

 rough resemblance of a worm. The rod used in sea fishing 

 from the canoes is of bamboo cane twelve or fifteen feet long, 

 and this enables the fisherman to attract the surface feeders 

 by dangling on the water an ingenious tuft of bristles or hairs 

 attached as a tail to the shell bait. 



