800 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
canoes lying on the beach and triced up in trees. When a canoe is 
damaged so that it can not be repaired, the pieces are saved and used 
in building a new one. 
The paddle resembles a spoon oar. The bailer is made of one piece 
of wood, and is very narrow to fit the bottom of the canoe; handle on 
the outside like a dory scoop. 
MAIANA ISLAND. 
After leaving Apamama the ship skirted the eastern shore of Maiana 
Island. From our view the beach inside the fringing reef appeared 
to be steep. A few huts could be seen, half concealed by cocoanut 
palms, and some of the natives were along the beach fishing with rod 
and line. 
Several stone fish-traps were observed. They seemed to be more 
substantially built than those in the Paumotus, evidently to withstand 
the heavy sea which at times must sweep over the reef. 
Stone Fish-trap, Maiana Island. 
TARAWA OR KNOX ISLAND. 
In the evening of the same day (January 2) the ship lay off the south 
side of Tarawa. Quite a quantity of surface life was attracted around 
the ship by the electric light. 
The reef on this side of the island makes offshore a considerable 
distance. Late in the evening many lights were seen moving on the 
reef, about 2 miles distant, indicating that natives were fishing. On 
leaving the island the following morning a number of stone fish-traps 
were noticed on the reef near where the lights had been seen the night 
before. In shape these traps resemble a palm-leaf fan. We judged 
them to be about + feet nigh and fully 3 feet thick; the lead was esti- 
mated to be 75 or 80 feet, and the diameter of trap about 50 feet. The 
shape of these traps differs greatly from those observed at Maiana 
Island, only a few miles distant. The same style of canoe, however, 
is found at both islands. 
