FISHING. 157 



natives, are in demand in many islands, though not in all. In some 

 islands, in fact, the native fish-hook is preferred. 



The various ingenious methods of ensnaring and decoying fish, 

 which are employed by the natives of this archipelago, would alone 

 afibrd, to a true enthusiast in the sport of fishing, materials for a 

 small volume. A plan which I saw employed at Ugi consisted in 

 tying a living fish to the end of a bamboo float and using it as a 

 decoy for other fish. The fisherman repairs to the reef when it is 

 covered by a depth of between 2 and 3 feet of water. Placing the 

 fish and bamboo float in the water, he follows them up either in his 

 canoe or on foot. The fish swims along, drawing the bamboo flcjat 

 after it : it soons decoys some other fish from its retreat, when the 

 fisherman watches his opportunity and catches his fish in a hand- 

 net which he carries with him. 



A singular mode of fishing, which Mr. Stephens of Ugi described 

 to. me as being sometimes employed in that part of the group, may 

 be here alluded to. A rock, where fish resort, which lies 3 or 4 feet 

 below the surface, is first selected. On the surface of the water is 

 placed a ring of some supple stem so as to include within its circum- 

 ference the rock beneath. No fish on the rock will pass under this 

 ring, which is gradually contracted in size until the fish become 

 crowded together, when they are scooped up with a hand-net. 



The following ingenious snare was emplo3'ed on one occasion by 

 my natives in Treasury, when I was anxious to obtain for Dr, 

 Giinther some smaU fish that frequented one of the streams on the 

 north side of the island. I was very desirous to have some of these 

 fish, and my natives were equally anxious to display their ingenuity 

 in catching them. They first bent a pliant switch into an oval hoop, 

 about a foot in length, over which they spread a covering of a stout 

 spider-web which was found in the wood hard by. Having placed 

 this hoop on the surface of the water, buoying it up on two light 

 stick.s, they shook over it a portion of a nest of ants, which formed 

 a large kind of tumour on the trunk of a neiorhbouring tree, thus 

 covering the web with a number of the struggling young insects. 

 This snare was then allowed to float down the stream, when the 

 little fish, which were between 2 and 3 inches long, commenced 

 jumping up at the white bodies of the ants from underneath the 

 hoop, apparently not seeing the intervening web on which they lay, 

 as it appeared nearly transparent in the water. In a short time 

 one of the small fish succeeded in getting its snout and gills en- 



