150 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



plated leaving on account of the coldness of their reception by the 

 already Christianized natives, there were no white men resident on 

 the island. The white trader had died several months before and no 

 one had taken his place. The supply of tobacco, soap, and some 

 other necessaries was exhausted, and the members of the party availed 

 themselves of an active demand for these articles in making collec- 

 tions of ethnological specimens, a fairly complete collection of fishing 

 appliances being secured. 



During the two days spent at Fongafale the naturalists of the party 

 made collections of corals and other specimens on the reefs. Great 

 difficulty was encountered in getting specimens of fish, not only at this 

 island, but everywhere in the South Seas. It was rarely that fish could 

 be taken on a line, and the few captured generally belonged to spe- 

 cies of which specimens were easily obtainable. Places presenting 

 opportunities for hauling the seines were comparatively few, owing to 

 the coral growths on the bottoms of the lagoons, and on the outside 

 of the atolls there were usually no places whatever where a net could 

 be set. Gill nets were tried in a number of places and in several ways, 

 and traps of various types were set where strange and gorgeously 

 beautiful fish were swarming, but only the most meager results were 

 obtained. Fishes in considerable numbers and variety could alwaj^s 

 be seen about the corals, but on the slightest alarm they would with- 

 draw into the numerous holes and crannies, where they were secure 

 against all attempts to catch them. 



Attempts to secure specimens and fish for the officers' mess from 

 the natives were no less abortive. The South Sea Islanders every- 

 where pay more or less attention to fishing, but in a desultory way 

 and upon a small scale and, except when they go out to sea after flying- 

 fish and bonito, rarely make catches of considerable size. In lagoon 

 fishing they usually catch barely enough for a meal for themselves. 

 They use a large variety of apparatus — traps differing in type in every 

 group, but all made upon the principle of our own lobster pots, seines, 

 dip nets, scoop nets, hooks and lines, and spears. The nets are nearly 

 all made by the natives of twine composed of fibers indigenous to the 

 islands, and many of the lines are also of home manufacture, although 

 the cotton line of the whites is used more or less in many places. The 

 natives generally exhibit considerable skill in making twine and 

 cordage, and examples were seen which in strength and workmanship 

 were not inferior to the products of machinery. Iron hooks obtained 

 from traders are now extensively used in most of the islands, but in 

 some cases barbless ones are preferred to the ordinary type, and for 

 some kinds of fishing the native hooks of pearl shell and bone are 

 found more effective. For catching the bonito and kindred species 

 the natives and white residents of the islands claim that nothing- 

 equals a sort of native "fly," which, with slight modifications, was 

 found everywhere from the Paumotus to the Marshal Is. It consists 

 of a pearl-shell shank to which a slightly curved and retrorse point 



