158 FISHING. 



tangled in the web, when a native at once waded in, and placing his 

 hand under the entangled fish secured the prize. With two of these 

 web-hoops we caught nine or ten of these little fish in a quarter of 

 an hour. 



As in other Pacific groups, the natives sometimes catch fish by 

 tlirowing small bits of some poisonous fruit on the water, when in a 

 short time the fish rise dead to the surface. The crushed kernels of 

 the fruits of the common littoral Barringto7iia {B. speciosa) are thus 

 employed by the natives. I tried them on one occasion in a fresh- 

 water lake in Stirling Island, which abounded with fish, but after 

 the lapse of two or three hours, no dead fish appeared at the surface. 



The use of dynamite for destroying fish, by white men in the 

 group, has led to its occasional employment for a similar purpose 

 by the natives, whenever white men liave been thoughtless enough 

 to give them this substance. In Augu.st, 1882, I visited a village 

 in the Bauro district on the north coast of St. Christoval, which had 

 lost its chief, a few days before, from an injury to the hand, resulting 

 from an accidental explosion of dynamite whilst fishing. Such 

 occurrences must not be uncommon in these and other islands. In 

 the previous April, we met with a native teacher at Mboli Harbour 

 who had lost one of his hands from a similar cause.^ At the end of 

 May, 1884, I removed the left hand of Captain Smith, the master of 

 the labour-schooner " Lavina," who had received a very serious 

 injury of the hand whilst fishing with dynamite on the coast of 

 Malaita. Some of the fresh- water fish which I sent to Dr. Giinther 

 were obtained in this way through the kindness of Mr. Curzon- 

 Howe, the Government agent of the " Lavina ; " and as I witnessed 

 the operation, I am in a position to pronounce on the hazardous 



nature of the mode in which the dynamite was employed 



With reference to the natives, there are two very obvious reasons 

 why this explosive substance should not be permitted to get into 

 their hands, even if we disregard tlie hazard that would attend its 

 use. In the first place, they might employ it against wliite men 

 and against their fellows; and in the next place, its employment for 

 obtaining fish would tend to encourage the already too indolent 

 habits. of these islanders. 



I pass on now to the subject of pig-hunting in these islands. 



1 Since writing (he above, I have learneil from my frieiul, Dr. Luther, late of H.M.S 

 " Dart," that he had to amputate on two occasions in the cases of natives who had sustained 

 severe injuries of the hand whilst fishing with dynamite. 



