BLACKS AS FISHERMEN 193 



the platform was a rough weir of twisted grass, which 

 was continued up each side for about half its length. 

 Water passed with little hindrance through the plat- 

 form, while jew-fish, yellow-tail, and bream, were 

 retained in considerable numbers. 



Many years have elapsed — peradventure centuries — 

 since the blacks of Missionary Bay, Hinchinbrook 

 Island, built a weir of blocks and boulders of granite 

 which oysters cemented here and there. On the fulness 

 of spring tides fish frolicked over and among the boulders. 

 Those which delayed their exit found themselves in an 

 enclosed pool which at certain seasons of the year runs 

 dry. To this day the sea continues to pay tribute, 

 though the blacks of the locality have passed away, 

 and there is none but the red-backed sea-eagle or the 

 heavy-flighted osprey and a rare and casual white man 

 to receive it. Among the few emblems of the vanishing- 

 race, this persistent weir-taking toll of the fish month 

 after month, year after year, for the benefit of successive 

 generations of eagles and ospreys, appeals vividly to 

 the imagination. 



Hooks. 



From what can be ascertained at this late date, pearl- 

 shell hooks were very sure and killing, but seem to have 

 been used principally for smaller fish — whiting, perch, 

 bream, flathead, etc. — the occurrence of large hooks 

 being exceedingly rare. Mullet (if tradition is to be 

 credited) were seldom caught by hook and fine, but were 

 speared among the mangroves at high tide — a practice 

 which prevails to this da}^ The Dunk Island examples 

 have a resemblance to one of the forms of pearl-shell 

 hooks used by the Tahitians in Captain Cook's day. 



Tortoise-shell hooks capable of holding large kingfish 

 and fair sized sharks are common among the natives of 



13 



