1 86 TROPIC DAYS 



one of the black palms, the barb being strapped on with 

 fibre, the binding being made impervious to water b}^ a 

 liberal coating of a pitch-like substance prepared from 

 the resinous gum of the arral-tree {Evodia accedens). 



The point is eight or ten inches long, the barbless 

 end being swathed in fibre so that it may fit easily' 

 into the socket of the eight or ten feet shaft. A long 

 line is tied to a point above the swathing, and, being 

 drawn taut along the shaft, is secured to the end by a 

 series of clove-hitches. When the fish is struck the 

 point is drawn from the socket, while the shaft acts as a 

 check on, and an indicator of, its course when just below 

 the surface. Such harpoons and lines are also used for 

 the capture of dugong and turtle, the line being made 

 of the inner bark (the bast layer) of one of the fig-trees, 

 and is of two strands only. Occasionalh'' the Hibiscus 

 tilliaceus is laid under tribute for ropes and lines, which, 

 however, are not considered as durable as those from the 

 fig. Nets, set and hand, are also made with twine from 

 the fig or hibiscus. 



When, at low spring tides, the coral reef is uncovered, 

 small rock-cod, slim eels, parrot-fish, perch, soles, the 

 lovely blue-spotted sting-ray, catfish, flathead, etc., 

 are poked out unceremoniously with spears or sharp- 

 pointed sticks from labyrinthine mazes, or from the 

 concealment afforded by the flabby folds and fringes 

 of the skeleton-less coral (Alcyonaria), or from among 

 the weeds and stones — a kind of additional sense leading 

 the black to the discovery of fish in places that a white 

 man would never dream of investigating. At this 

 opportune time, too, huge, defiantl}^ armed and bril- 

 liantly coloured crayfish are exposed to capture. A 

 statement was published recently that this was the 

 speediest of all marine animals. The assertion is much 

 to be questioned, but there can be no doubt that the 



