202 TROPIC DAYS 



has describea the Papuan art of fishing by means of 

 kites, the lure being a tassel of the web of a spider of 

 the Nephila species. No doubt the blacks here made an 

 independent and original discovery, and in their simpli- 

 city applied it in a different, but none the less effective, 

 style from that of the advanced Papuan. 



Thus, to use the web and the fragments of a spider 

 for fly-fishing is certainly meting out poetic justice to 

 the spider on account of the many ensnared flies; and 

 the black angler never pauses to reflect whether the 

 comminuted remains of a spider can possibly be con- 

 .^ strued into a fair fly. 



