FISHES WAITE. 201 



prey on the ( Palu.' When each canoe has caught two ' Palu ' 

 they paddle ashore. 



"The fish are apportioned out to the community with the 

 greatest exactitude every portion of it is edible ; the head, 

 bones, and fins, when cooked, turning into a rich mass of jelly. 

 The flesh of the 'Palu,' if left uncooked, never putrefies; it 

 simply dissolves into a colourless and odourless oil I believe 

 chemists would like to get hold of ' Palu ' oil. When cooked, it 

 is not easy to detect any great difference from the flesh of other 

 fish, except that it looks very rich and is dully transparent. Its 

 almost immediate effect on the bowels I have described to you 

 before. 



"It is prized above all other fish in the Line and Ellice 

 Groups. In the Line Islands it is called ' Te icka ne peka ' 

 hardly translatable in polite English ; but not to be too coarse 

 we will say it means ' the fish that makes you obey the call of 

 nature in double quick time.' 



" When I was living on Savage Island, the people then told 

 me that in the older times ' Palu ' were caught there, but of late 

 years very rarely, and that the strong currents racing round the 

 island made them (the natives) afraid to venture out at night ; 

 but I surprised them when, with two old warrior fishermen, I 

 caught five ' Palu ' in one night, in 80 fathoms only, and with a 

 steel fish-hook. I set the fashion, and the extinct art was 

 revived during my stay there, and I sold any amount of fishing 

 lines and 8-in. hooks, as the Nuie people hate to make anything 

 they 'can buy or steal." 



Three types of Funafuti native instruments, in which portions 

 of fishes have been made use of, have been submitted to me. 



One, called a rasp, is simply a dried portion of the tail of 

 Urogymnus asperrimus. The skin of this ray, as is well known, 

 is in common use for covering sword and spear handles, etc. 



A second, described as a thatching needle, is formed of about 

 nine inches of the beak of a Sword Fish (Histiophorus). 

 Another needle used for a similar purpose is the caudal spine of 

 one of the larger Sting Rays (Trygonidce\ the serrations having 

 been ground down to render the tool sufficiently smooth. The 

 native name of the ray is " Feimanu." 



A number of lancets form a third type. They are very neatly 

 made of a piece of stick cleft at the end, into which is lashed a 

 shark's tooth. The teeth are possibly from Carcharias lamia; 

 those from the lower jaw would make admirable lancets, but 

 personally I should not care to be operated upon by the serrated 

 teeth of the upper jaw both types of teeth having been similarly 

 utilised. 



