ETHNOLOGY HEDLEY. 271 



me of European lamp-wick forming a beard for a Manihiki hook, 

 and a Gilbert Islander has so utilised a bit of canvas ; the Museum 

 series further afford a Mortlock hook bearded with dressed Hibiscus 

 bark. Pieces of tappa cloth, varying in colour according to the 

 kind of fishing, are mentioned by Finsch from the last-named 

 Island. 



The hook with which the great god Tangaloa dragged up Tonga 

 from the bottom of the sea, was described as " made of tortoise- 

 shell, strengthened by a piece of the bone of a whale ; in size and 

 shape it was just like a large albacore hook, measuring six or 

 seven inches long, from the curve to the part where the line was 

 attached, and an inch and a half between the barb and the 

 stem."* 



The fishing-lines attached to these hooks are always sold together 

 with them; being required to endure tremendous strain, they are 

 fastened to the hooks inseparably. In the Ellice, as in the Gilbert 

 and Manihiki specimens, these are composed of Broussonetia, and 

 are fine, white, three-ply cord, two to three mm. in diameter, of 

 immense strength. In the words of Captain Cook,f the Polynesians 

 " make the best fishing-lines in the world : with these they hold 

 the strongest and most active fish, such as bonetas and albacores, 

 which would snap our strongest silk lines in a minute, though 

 they are twice as thick." Dr. Finsch informs us that in the 

 Carolines the fishing-lines were constructed of Hibiscus fibre, and 

 that the Archipelago was chiefly supplied with this article from 

 Nukuor. 



Synopsis. This kind of fish-hook may, on the model of 

 systematic biology, be classified as follows : 



Genus TRAILED PEARL SHELL HOOKS. 



Description. Of two pieces, pearl shell shank and attached 

 hook of the same or other substance, large, bearded, trailed on 

 the surface without bait, principally employed for bonito ; extends 

 throughout the Pacific. 



Type.~Fig. 38, p. 270. 



Species A. Type species. 



Description.- -Shank mother-of-pearl, bored at thick end to 

 attach fishing-line, which is then carried along the face of the 

 shank and made fast to the barb, tail not serrated ; beard and 

 barb of various substances. 



Locality Pacific. 



* Mariner Tonga, i., 1817, p. 285. 

 t Cook loc. tit., p. 218. 



