THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 811 
pointed, usually curved inwards at the point, but 
sometimes standing out very wide, occasionally 
armed at the point with a piece of bone. The 
best are hooks ingeniously made with the smail 
roots of the aito-tree, or iron-wood (Casuarina). 
In selecting a root for this purpose, they choose 
one partially exposed, and growing by the side of 
a bank, preferring such as are free from knots and 
other excrescences. The root is twisted intc tho 
shape they wish the future hook to assume, and 
POLYNESIAN FISHING-TACKLE. 
allowed to grow till it has reached a size large 
enough to allow of the outside or soft parts being 
removed, and a sufficiency remaining to form the 
hook. Some hooks thus prepared are not mucb 
