218 INGENIO US ABT8 IN FISHING. 



a piece of the mother-of-pearl shell, five or six inches long 

 and three-quarters of an inch wide, carefully cut and finely 

 polished, so as to resemble the body of a fish. A barb is 

 fastened by a firm bandage of finely twisted flax ; to the 

 lower part of this the end of the line is securely fastened. 

 When taken out to sea, the line is attached to a strong bam- 

 boo cane about twelve or fifteen feet long. When a shoal 

 of fish is seen, the natives who angle, sit in the stern of the 

 canoe, and hold the rod at such an elevation as to allow the 

 hook to touch the edge of the water, but not to sink. When 

 the fish approach it, the rowers ply their paddles briskly, 

 and the light bark moves rapidly along. The deception of 

 the hook is increased by a number of hairs or bristles being 

 attached to the end of the shell, so as to resemble the tail of 

 a flying-fish. The victims, darting after and grasping their 

 prey, are at once secured. During the season two men will 

 sometimes take twenty or thirty large fish in this way in the 

 course of the forenoon. 



The most ingenious method, however, of taking these 

 large fish is by means of a Tnast. A pair of ordinary-sized 

 canoes is usually selected for this purpose, and the lighter 

 and swifter the more suitable they are esteemed. Between 

 the fore part of the canoes a broad, deep, oblong kind of 

 basket is constructed with the stalks of a strong kind of fern, 

 interwoven with tough fibers of a tree : this is to contain the 

 fish that may be taken. To the fore part of the canoes a long 

 curved pole is fastened, branching in opposite directions at 

 the outer end ; the foot of this rests in a kind of socket fixed 

 between the two canoes. From each of the projecting 

 branches lines with pearl-shell hooks are suspended, so ad- 

 justed as to be kept near the surface of the water. To that 

 part of the pole which is divided into two branches strong 

 ropes are attached ; these extend to the stern of the canoe, 

 where they are held by persons watching the seizure of the 

 hook. The tira, or mast, projects a considerable distance 



