732 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
years. Its appearance is taken by fishermen and the people in general as a sure 
precursor of the death of a very high chief. The basket is shallow, of about the 
same size as the hinai hooluuluu, but wider mouthed. The following is a description 
of the methods of fishing followed on the last appearance of this fish: " 
At the last appearance of the uiui the imported marketing baskets were generally used by those 
who could not obtain the old-fashioned kind, as any old cast-away basket would do, with a little patch- 
ing, occupying perhaps five minutes, and two sticks bent over the mouth or opening from side to side, 
and at right angles to each other, for a handle to which to tie the draw-string. It should be twisted 
round and round above the jointure with a little of the sea convolvulus (pohuehue) with the leaves on, 
so as to throw a little shade in the basket to keep the fish from being drawn up to the surface of the water. 
In these baskets cooked pumpkins, half-roasted sweet potatoes, or raw ripe papayas were placed for 
bait. The canoes, thus provided, would sail right into the midst of a school of these fish; the basket 
being lowered a few feet into the sea, the fish being attracted by the scent of the bait would rush into 
the baskets and feed greedily. As soon as the baskets were full of fish they would be drawn up and 
emptied into the canoe and then lowered again, with more bait if necessary, and this would go on till 
the canoe was loaded or the fisherman was tired. These fish are very good eating when they first 
arrive, as they are fat, with liver very much enlarged ; after a month they become thinner, not perhaps 
procuring their proper food here, and then taste strong and rank. 
The following, from the same source, describes a basket occasionally used by the 
natives: 
The ie kala basket is the largest kind of basket used in fishing by the Hawaiians. These are 
round, rather flat, baskets, 4 to 5 feet in diameter by 2J to 3 in depth, and about 11 across the mouth. 
A small cylinder or cone of wicker is attached by the large end to the mouth and turned inward toward 
the bottom of the basket. This cone or cylinder is quite small at the free end, just large enough for 
the kala to get in. Immediately below the end of this cone, on the bottom of this basket, is placed 
the bait, properly secured, which in the case of the kala is limu kal a (a coarse, brownish-yellow alga 
on which this fish feeds and from which it takes its name), ripe breadfruit, cooked pumpkins, and 
half-roasted Sweet potatoes, and papayas. This basket is called the ie lawe (taking-basket). The 
fishermen generally feed the fish at a given place for a week or more before taking any, using for this 
purpose a large basket of the same kind, without the inverted cylinder, and wider in the mouth, to 
allow the fish free ingress and egress. After a week or two of feeding they become very fat and fine 
flavored, as also very tame, and baskets full of fish can be drawn up in the taking basket without in 
the least disturbing those which are still greedily feeding in the feeding baskets.. These baskets are 
occasionally used for other kinds of fish, substituting the bait known to attract that particular kind, 
but never with the same degree of success as with kala. 
The South Sea Islanders living at Honolulu and Lahaina have introduced two new 
types of baskets. The larger has a flat bottom, and is otherwise the shape of a 
half cylinder, the top gradually sloping to the rear end. These baskets are about 
3 feet long, 2 feet high in front, and 1| feet in height in the rear. The outer frame- 
work projects about 2 inches beyond the front and back. The baskets are made of 
flexible twigs lashed together with twine. A cone or funnel, 6 to 8 inches in diameter 
and about 12 inches long, with the end cut off, is inserted at the larger end, the body 
of the cone being inside of and opening into the basket. At the end of the cone a 
trap-door of wickerwork, about 4 inches square, is fixed in such a manner that it will 
open at a touch from the outside, but can not be pushed open from the inside. The 
basket is weighted down with stones or two pieces of old iron run lengthwise of the 
basket on the bottom and lashed there. In the rear of the basket is a small trap -door 
a Hawaiian Fisheries and Methods of Fishing, with an Account of the Fishing Implements used by the Natives of the 
Hawaiian Islands. By Mrs. Emma Metcalf Beckley. 
