152 FISHINd. 



web, which gets entangled around the teeth and snout of the fish, 

 and can be used several times. The explanation of this plan of 

 catching fish is probabl}^ as follows. The kite swaying in the air 

 offers some resemblance to an aquatic bird hovering over the water 

 where a shoal of small fish occurs. It thus attracts the larger fish> 

 who are said to follow the movements of these birds, and are thus 

 guided in the pursuit of the smaller fry. It is with tiiis object that 

 the natives of the Society Group tie bunches of feathers to the ex- 

 tremities of the long-curved poles which, projecting from the fore- 

 part of the canoe, support the lines.^ As bearing on this subject, I 

 may remark that it is not uncommon in these seas to observe por- 

 poises, large fish, and sea-birds joining together in the pursuit of 

 small fry. On one occasion, when in lay Rob Roy canoe, I got into 

 the thick of the fraj^ A iarge number of sea-birds were hovering 

 over the water, which was alive with fish, about a foot in length, 

 which, in pursuit of small fry, were themselves pursued by a shoal 

 of porpoises, and were pecked at by the birds as, in their endeavour 

 to escape, they leapt out of the v/ater. It was a lively spectacle. 

 The fish jumped out of the water all around me, whilst the birds 

 hovering within reach of mj' paddle swooped down on them ; and 

 the huge porpoises, joining lazily in the sport, rose quietly to the 

 surface within a few feet of the canoe, showed their dorsal fins, and 

 dived again in pursuit of their prey. I stupidly fired three shots with 

 my revolver into the hovering flock of birds; but it was not until 

 after the third report that they temporarily suspended the chase. . . . 

 abiother common method of fishing in the eastern islands, which 

 resembles in its idea that of the kite-fishing, consists in the use of 

 a float of wood about three feet in lenojth and rather bi^o-er than a 

 walking-stick. It is weighted by a stone at one end, so that it floats 

 upright in the water, a fishing-line with the spider-web bait being 

 attached to its lower end. The upper end of the float, which is out 

 of the water, is rudely cut in imitation of a wading-bird ; and here 

 we have the same idea exhibited which I have described above in 

 the case of kite-fishing, the figure of the bird being supposed to 

 attract the laiger fish. There is, however, this difference. A glance 

 at one of these floats, one of which is figured elsewhere, will convince 

 anyone that a fish is not likely to be deceived by such a sorry repre- 

 sentation of a bird. Doubtless we have here an instance of the sur- 

 vival of a more effective method of fishing, in which the idea has 



1 E lis's " I'olynesian Researches," Vol. I., p. 149-50. 



