DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD. 193 



natives of Polynesia being fishermen by profession. 

 They are well acquainted with all the most known 

 modes of fishing ; the net, the spear, the hook, 

 the line, &c. &c. In no part of the world are 

 they excelled as fishermen, and the variety and 

 excellency of their apparatus is astonishing. Their 

 native hooks are made of wood, shell, or bone ; the 

 latter being extremely curious, and answering the 

 purpose of hook and bait. The method of using 

 them somewhat resembles fly-fishing, and shows 

 the ingenuity of these isolated people ; the shank 

 of the hook used in catching dolphins, albecornes, 

 and bonitos, is made with a piece of mother-of- 

 pearl shell, five or six inches in length, three 

 quarters wide, carefully cut and high polished, 

 so as to resemble the body of a fish ; on the con- 

 cave side a barb is fastened with a firm bandage, 

 the barb is an inch and a half in length, and is of 

 shell or bone ; to the lower part of this is the end 

 of a line securely fastened, and being banded 

 along the inner or concave part of the shell, is 

 again attached to the upper. These pearl shell 

 hooks are considered finer than any in Europe : 

 the line is fastened to the hook or bait, and at- 

 tached to a bamboo cane twelve or fifteen feet 

 long. Two or three persons then go out in a 

 light canoe, and when they perceive a shoal of the 

 above fish, the person angling throws the hook, 

 keeping the rod at such an elevation as to allow 

 the hook to touch the edge of the water ; when 

 o 



