Fish-Poisoning in the Hawaiian Islands 
With Notes on the Custom in 
Southern Polynesia 
By Joun F. G. SToxKEs. 
Hors, FisH-Porsoninc IN HAWAII. 
One of the many methods of fishing practiced by Hawaiians 
was the hola, a term which signifies: (1) the material as pre- 
pared for fishing, (2) the particular system of fishing, (3) to take 
fish by poison. As the food of the Hawaiians consisted largely of 
fish, they, like other Polynesians, were expert fishermen. Not only 
were their fishing implements well developed, but their working 
knowledge of the habits of the local fishes was remarkably good. 
It may seem surprising, therefore, that a people so largely depend- 
ent on fish food should resort to a method which with the 
mature fish destroyed also the immature. But this quick and cer- 
tain means of taking fish being carried on during only part of the 
year, the damage to the fishing industry was probably not so great 
as might be expected. 
The natives state that the poison most frequently used for 
hola-fishing was obtained from two plants, auiuhut and akia (see 
p. 226), and that they were prepared in the same way—commin- 
uted by being pounded with stones. The resulting mass was en- 
closed in various kinds of packages and then quickly applied. It is 
the odor emanating from the freshly crushed vegetation that af- 
fects the fish, according to the native idea, and so no time was 
wasted. It would seem that the strength as well as the odor of the 
hola was soon dissipated and that the poison quickly lost its effect. 
*The toxic principle of auhuhu, as identified recently in a preliminary 
study of the plant by Mr. C. E. Warriner, chemist of the Hawaiian Sugar 
Planters’ Association, is Glucoside. It is hoped that an exhaustive investi- 
gation of the vegetable poisons used by the Hawaiians may be undertaken 
in the near future. 
[3] (219) 
