THE ANIMAL LIFE OF THE (IKOIP. 339 



Fishing in Former Times. 



Doubtless fish have always been one of the chief arlidcs df aiiiiiial food for 

 the natives, and a visit to the busy niai'kels will no) only repay one for the 

 trouble. I)ut cotiviiicc liini thai llic business of fishing' still constitutes one of 

 Hawaii's ini])(trtant industries. The name i "a was ^iveii by llie Hawaiians to 

 all food pi'oducts secured from the sea, "whether they moved or not." But 

 for our purpose we wdll speak only of the fishes, reservint^' llie many otln-i- 

 interesting forms for discussion in other chapters. 



As has been said in the account of the people, fishinu' in former limes was 

 associated wath much religious ceremony and idol worship. Altai-s and luMaus, 

 especially devoted to the needs of the fishing class, were very common. The 

 fish gods, more numerous than the heiaus, were faithfully woi-sliipped by the 

 fishing class and their every tabu and requirement most studiously observed. 

 Before the fishermen would go out on their expeditions, everything that could 

 be done to placate the gods would be carried out by the devout. 



However, we are told that in those days, as in these, there was a cei'tiiin 

 class, more skeptical than the rest, who went fishing whenever the\- chose to do 

 so, without observing any religious ceremonies wdiatever. 



Fishing Equipment of the Ancient Hawaiia.xs. 



There was a great variety of implements and apparatus employed b\- the 

 fishermen, and their description and enumeration seems hardly necessary 

 here; but it is of interest to know that they had devices for capturing every 

 kind of creature inhabiting the waters about the islands, with the single exception 

 of the whale. 



The canoe w^as, of course, the most important part of the e(|ui])ment of a 

 fisherman. These were almost invariably made of koa. ^Nfany of the older 

 ones were fashioned from huge trees, so large, indeed, that the finished canoes 

 ■were often from thirty to sixty feet in length. A canoe to seat tin-ee fisher- 

 men would be about thirty-three feet long, while a single-seated one was 

 usually eighteen feet long by seventeen inches wide. Some of the canoes used 

 sails, but as a general rule the paddle was the only motive jxtwer. 



The seines were the most important part of the fisherman's outfit. 

 These were frequently two or three hundred feet in lenuth. and in certain 

 cases they occasionally joined the long ones together. 'i'lieii' seines for catch- 

 ing bait were much smaller, usually only a few yai'ds in length, \vilh mesh as 

 fine as quarter inch. Gill nets of different sizes and designs were also much 

 used. They were used nu)stly at night and wei'e commonly set aci'oss o|)en- 

 ings in the reef. Frequently these nets wei-e laid out so as to enclose a large 

 coral rock. The native fisherman would then di\-e down and drixc the lish I'inmii 

 the rock. 



Another method sometimes used by tiie natives was to join se\-eral seines 

 together and then paddle out to sea in a semicii'cde. paying out the seine as 

 thev w^ent. The net would then ])e hauled in to shore ami the last few yai-ds 



