A NAtmLUS IS SECT7RED. 



135 



and a pencil in the other, 80 little escaped Lis pen 

 and pencO, that very little information has been add- 

 ed hy later dissections. I was so anxious to secure 

 one of these rare anbnals, that I felt that, if I should 

 obtain one and a few more common species, I could 

 feel that my long jonrney had been far from fruitless. 

 Only the second day after my mTival, to my inex- 

 pressible delight, a native brought me one still Uvmg, 

 Seeing how highly I priced it, he began by asking 

 ten guilders (four Mexican dollars) for it, but finally 

 concluded to part with it for two guilders (less than 

 one Mexican dollar), though I should certainly have 

 paid him fifty if I could not have obtained it for a 

 less price. It had been taken in this way : the na- 

 tives throughout the archipelago rarely fish with a 

 hook and line as we do, but, where the water is too 

 deep to build a weir, they use ijistead a hiihi^ or bar- 

 rel of open basket-work of bamboo, Eiich end of 

 this bai'rel is an inverted cone, with a small opening 

 at its apex. Pieces of fish and other bait are sus- 

 pended from within, and the hulm is then sunk on 

 the clear patches of sand on a coral reef, or more com- 

 monly out w^here the water is from twenty to fifty 

 fathoms deep. No line is attached to those on the 

 reefs, but they are taken up with a gaff. Those 

 in deep water are buoyed by a cord and a long bam- 

 boo, to one end of which a stick is fastened in a ver- 

 tical position, and to this is attached a piece of palm- 

 leaf for a flag, to make it more conspicuous. In this 

 case it happened that one of these hd/ua was washed 

 oif into deeper water than usual, and the nautilus 

 chanced to crawl through the opening in one of the 



