314 THE OCEAN. 
capable of being lowered or elevated by a rope which 
proceeds from the fork. A man sits in the high 
stern, holding this rope in his hand, and watching 
the capture of the fishes. From the end of the pro- 
jecting arms depends the line, with the pearl-hook 
fashioned to resemble the Flying-fish. To increase 
the deception, bunches of feathers are fastened to 
the tips of the arms, to represent those aquatic 
birds which habitually follow the Flying-fish in its 
course, to seize it in the air. The presence of 
these birds is so sure an indication of the position 
of the fish, that the fishermen hasten to the spot 
where they are seen hovering in the air. The canoe 
skims rapidly along, rising and falling on the waves, 
by which a similar motion is communicated to the 
hook, which skips along, sometimes out and some- 
times in the water, while the plumes of feathers 
flutter immediately above. The artifice rarely fails 
to succeed; if the bonito perceives the hook, he 
instantly engages in pursuit, and if he misses his 
grasp, perseveres until he has seized it. The mo- 
ment the man in the stern perceives the capture, 
he hoists the crane, and the fish is dragged in, 
and thrown into a sort of long basket, suspended 
between the two canoes. The crane is then lowered 
again, and all is ready for another candidate. 
Yet another mode of fishing, not wanting in in- 
genuity, is adopted by the inhabitants of the Samoa 
group. A number of hollow floats, about eight 
inches in height, and the same in diameter, are at- 
tached to a stout cord, a short distance apart. To 
each of them a line is attached, about a foot in 
