782 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
THE TONGA ISLANDS. 
EVA. 
Our next landing-place was Eua, a small island in the Tonga group, 
surrounded by a fringing reef and covered with a rich growth of veg- 
etation. The eastern shore is very precipitous, with a number of small 
caves close to the water’s edge, into which the sea rushes with great 
force. Many ‘* blow holes” were observed in the old coral rock. In 
a few places small sandy beaches had formed immediately in the rear 
of the beach rock, but its ragged front would prevent any attempt at 
collecting with a seine. 
The ship lay to off English Roads, and a party landed at Ohonua 
village, on the western side of the island, a place of about 300 inhabit- 
ants. We could find no suitable places on the reef for collecting with 
a seine. In a small stream on the outskirts of the village 14 mullet 
were caught ina Baird seine. Numerous snags in the stream prevented 
even a small seine being used to advantage. We followed up the 
stream for a half mile without finding any better seining-ground than 
at the mouth. By clearing out the bed of the stream fairly good 
results might possibly have been obtained. 
While there were no canoes at the village or anywhere in the imme- 
diate surroundings, it is unlikely that these people are without them. 
There may haye been a number away on some excursion at a distant 
part of the island. 
Hauled up under cover, near the mouth of the stream, was a square- 
stern, straight-stem, clinker-built boat, sloop-rigged, 25 feet long and 
9 feet wide, decked over and with a standing room or cockpit aft, and 
a 2 by 3 foot hatch forward leading into the hold. This boat had 
probably been purchased from some passing trader and used only in 
visiting neighboring or distant islands. It apparently had not been 
in the water for a long time. 
The entire absence of nets or other apparatus led us to believe that 
but little fishing is carried on at this island, and as near as we could 
learn it is all done with spear. In the evening three men, carrying 
torches of cocoanut husks, were engaged in spearing fish on the reef. 
TONGA TABU. 
A visit of two days was made to Nukualofa, on the island of Tonga 
Tabu. Shore collecting was carried on at both stages of the tide. 
A platform makes off a long distance from the shore, and, like most 
reefs of its kind, exposed at low water, contains many pools in which 
are small fish. Compared to many other reefs of a similar character, 
a scarcity of fish and other animal life was found. At low water a 
collecting seine was taken to the reef and repeated trials were made 
in the pools, but with only negative results when used in the ordinary 
way. By using it in the manner of a trap, as was previously done at 
