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 it 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) is raised. 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- 



