200 FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



Samoa, New Hebrides, etc. ; that it affects only the low-lying 

 coral atolls, such as the above-named. With the exception of an 

 old trader named Jack O'Brien, now living in Funafuti, in the 

 Ellice Group, I do not think there is among the white traders of 

 to-day another man besides myself who has caught ' Palu.' In 

 the first place, a man must have much experience of deep-sea 

 fishing ; in the next, the native inhabitants would strongly resent 

 a strange white man attempting to catch one, for reasons I will 

 explain hereafter that is, the people of the Line Islands would so 

 resent it. 



" A full-grown ' Palu' would weigh up to 1501bs., and be 6ft. 

 long ; it being by no means a thick fish ; as far as shape goes it 

 is much like the Australian Jew fish. In place of scales it 

 possesses a tough black skin, thickly covered with bright silvery 

 and small horny excresences growing in the same manner as the 

 feathers of a French fowl that is, these scales, or whatever you 

 can call them, curl upwards, and feel loose to the touch. The 

 most peculiar features of the ' Palu ' are the enormous eyes ; the 

 jaws are toothless ; the fins resemble those of a Jew fish. The 

 average size is about 3 or 4ft., and weight 40 to GOlbs. 



" The ingeniously constructed wooden ' Palu ' hook you are 

 already familiar with, so I need not here say anything about it. 

 The line most in favour for ' Palu ' fishing is made from the very 

 best cocoanut fibre, 4 or 6 plait. This is of great strength, and 

 above all very light, for it is not unusual to fish in 150 to 200 

 fathoms, and at such a depth as that the lines, made from 'fetau' 

 (Hibiscus), would be too heavy to pull in. A stone sinker, 3 to 

 51bs., is attached to the line. 



" A calm smooth night is chosen, and after catching flying fish 

 for ' Palu ' bait, the canoes pull out into the open always on the 

 lee side. It is customary to observe the strictest silence, the 

 natives having many superstitions in regard to ' Palu ' catching, 

 which is always conducted in a quiet, noiseless manner, different 

 from ' Bonito ' fishing, where everyone yells and howls, and 

 works himself into a frenzy. 



" The bite of the ' Palu ' is hardly perceptible, but on the Island 

 of Nanoinaga, in the Ellice Group, where I was left twelve 

 months, I do not remember an instance where we did not touch 

 bottom at 120 fathoms, and almost immediately pull up with a 

 ' Palu ' hooked. The hauling up is done very slowly till the fish 

 is within 30 or 40 fathoms, and then as fast as possible to avoid 

 the big Tanifa sharks that would seize the fish. Sometimes in 

 1 Palu ' fishing we have hooked immense brown eels which, unless 

 our united strength was put on the line, would tie themselves 

 round the coral and cut the line. In one of these eels we found 

 a 'Palu' weighing 201bs., just dead, showing that these brutes 



