30° SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 
almost equidistantly, and the bait is then lowered into the 
sea the requisite depth, the weight of the lead keeping it 
there. A favourite spot is the leeside of a point, near the 
rocks and where the current is fairly strong, and they gener- 
ally bite either after the full tide, when 1t commences to fall, 
though outside the Bocas it is often vice versa. These 
“‘paoua’’ come in large schools, and their presence can be 
easily detected by numbers of them often rising and beating 
on top of the water. When they commence biting, they do 
so ravenously, and the fishermen out for a livelihood not 
infrequently put out four lines, one in each hand and one 
tied to each big toe. Sometimes a man will be seen strug- 
gling with three fish at once, and this is a very amusing sight, 
especially as he will be in a tremendous hurry to let go the 
slip knot off his toe. Favourite spots for “paoua’’ fishing 
near the Bocas in the season, are, the leesides of Pointe 
Courante at Monos, Pointe Rouge the northeast point of the 
First Boca, and near the Parasol Rock in the Second Boca. 
The point at the northwest corner of Cronstadt, the Doctor’s 
island, is also good. 
A word about two distinct specialties of the north- 
western fishing region, the Bocas negro, and the ‘“remous’’: 
the former is “ sui generis” indubitably ignorant, superstitious 
and lazy, faults of the conditions under which he was reared, 
and probably too much of the “gentle life’’ described so 
graphically by Canon Kingsley. His mode of life, dependent 
almost entirely on the caprices of Ocean and her finny in- 
habitants, naturally predisposes him to be supine and indo- 
lent, save when the magic shout “‘carangue ka bat’’ (cavalli 
are beating) israised. On the other hand, he is fairly honest, 
of kindly and cheerful disposition, particularly to women 
and children, and although when he occasionally gets hold of 
of rum he may be like “Thompson, the hero of Angels,”’ 
frightfully drunk, yet he is always polite to the stranger. 
When the fish are on the move or bite, he is a thorough 
sportsman, and spares not himself in the interests of the 
game. He is a hardy mariner and knows all the currents 
(which are swift and dangerous), and rocks of his native 
islets, and it is on account of this knowledge that he is indis- 
