GENERAL ACCOUNT HRDLET. 65 



seeing through the clear water the line extending to the surface 

 would thereby be scared away. The trap was lowered to the 

 bottom and unhooked. By taking careful bearings the position 

 could be found and the trap recovered by dragging for and hook- 

 ing it up. An apparently similar crab pot is described by Dr. 

 Wiley* as employed by the natives of New Britain for capturing 

 Nautili. 



At low tide on the reef fish were speared by torch light at 

 night. In the lagoon flaming brands of dry palm attracted the 

 gar fish and flying fish to the canoes. A scene described at 

 Nukunau in the Gilberts by Webster,! was often mirrored by the 

 Funafuti Lagoon, " In the evening, the Island appeared to be 

 completely illuminated along the margin of the beach ; hundreds 

 of little lights were in motion by the water's edge, and dancing 

 in the surf. We presently discovered that the natives were busily 

 employed catching flying fish, torches being carried in the canoes 

 for the purpose of attracting them, when they were caught in 

 scoop nets as they rose to the light." Eels in the shore pools were 

 taken by hoop-nets, " titiesi." The " palolo " worm is not known 

 in the Ellice Group. 



A year or two ago considerable quantities of pumice drifted 

 ashore, and the native mind linked this to the fact that a man 

 died after a meal of fish taken on the outer reef. All fish from 

 the outer beach were after this occurrence held to be unwholesome, 

 but the fish from within the lagoon still continued to be eaten. 

 At the time of our visit, it was yet considered unsafe to eat any 

 fish from the ocean beach, though it was believed that at some 

 future date they would again become fit for consumption. 



The bright hued labroid fishes are eaten though poorly esteemed. 

 A Giant Ray, Ceratoptera sp., was harpooned in shoal water in 

 the Lagoon ; the huge fins were cut off to make a meal for the 

 families of its captors. As previously noted the barracouta in 

 former days was sacred to the priests. On Arorae in the Gilberts 

 the Rev. W. W. Gill records in his Diary that sacred fish only 

 eaten by the priests were the shark and the turtle. 



The only turtle occuring at Funafuti is the Green Turtle, "Fonu," 

 Chelone midas, which is far from common, one example only being 

 taken during our stay on the atoll. From its shell an axe, " taku- 

 fonu," was formerly made, and domestic utensils are still fashioned 

 from its bones. In Queensland the Aborigines manufacture the 

 carapace of this Chelonian into a shield. J In past times, owing 

 doubtless to its rarity, the flesh of the Funafuti turtle was meat 



* Wiley Natural Science, vi., 1895, pp. 409 and 414, fig. 

 f Webster loc. cit., n.d., p. 31. 



tEtheridge, Junr. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. (2), ix., 1894, p. 508, 

 pis. xxxv. and xxxvi. 



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