Maori Fishing 319 



which washes the shores and fills the harbours of New 

 Zealand, the beautiful Britain of the South. 



All around the coasts of the Middle and South 

 Islands, according to the season of the year, the 

 Barracouta swarm, in great schools as I have said, 

 and the orthodox method of entrapping them, invented 

 by the Maories, is as foUows : — Take a stout rod, 

 say eight to ten feet in length, or rather a pole, fairly 

 rigid and tough, but not too heavy. To the end of 

 it secure a piece of strong iishing line five or six feet 

 in length. To the free end of this line attach a lure 

 made as follows : A piece of red pine (rimu) four 

 inches long, one inch wide and half an inch thick, is 

 scraped smooth and bright so that it will glow crimson 

 when wet. Through one end of it is driven a two-inch 

 nail, which is carefully bent upward and filed sharp. 

 Then this lure is fastened to the line in such a manner 

 that, in case of the splitting of the wood, the fish shall 

 not be lost. Now the boat, in which two fishermen 

 sit to windward facing forward, is sailed briskly to 

 and fro, the fishermen meanwhile whipping the water 

 occasionally until a Barracouta snaps at the bait, and 

 with a dexterous swing is flung into the boat where, 

 as there is no barb on the hook, he immediately falls 

 off. At the same time the peak halyards are let go, 

 so that the boat's way is deadened and the fishermen 

 ply their poles energetically. 



If they have struck a school, the fish rise and fall 

 into the boat with a rhythmical regularity, every 

 sweep of the bait into the water securing its fish. So 

 rapid is the process, that I have seen thirty dozen fine 

 fish, none under six or seven pounds in weight, shipped 

 in an hour, and but for the fact that the fisher- 

 men's arms refused duty and imperatively required 

 a little rest there was no reason why this wholesale 



