744 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES E1SH COMMISSION. 
The natives are very expert in the preparation of palu, or baits, from various 
substances. In making these a small section of the sharp end of a cocoanut shell, 
about li inches in height, and a small stick of hal’d wood are used, in the same manner 
as a mortar and pestle. 
A number of methods of preparing such baits, with the ink bag of the hee as the 
principal ingredient, were given to me by Mr. Joseph Swift Emerson, of Honolulu, 
who has made a thorough study of the native customs. Alaala hehe (the ink bag of the 
common octopus) is roasted on the coals in the leaves of a ki plant, and when well 
cooked is ground into a paste in the mortar. Usually it is flavored with something 
that is supposed to attract the fish. Great care is taken in compounding the mix- 
ture, and every fisherman has his favorite recipe. The following are some of the 
more common mixtures used, alaala hehe forming the base in every case: 
1. Pound up a little alaalapuloa root in the mortar, throw away the fiber, leaving only a few drops 
of juice in the mortar, then mix in the alaala hehe, working it thoroughly with the pestle. 
2. Mash up a red pepper and throw seeds and pulp away, leaving only a few drops of juice adhering 
to the mortar. 
3. Obtain juice from puakala (the prickly plant, the thistle) seeds. Mix in a little salt and proceed 
as in No. 1. 
4. The same with ilima flowers and salt, always using an exact number of flowers, say 4 or 8. The 
fishermen have a superstitious idea that if an odd number is used it will have no force. 
5. The same with salt and young noni leaves slightly roasted. 
6. The same with salt and maile kaluhea. 
7. The same with salt and leaves of the paina (poha — cape gooseberry). 
8. The same with salt and very young leaves of koko. 
9. The same with the bark from the root of pilo (plant growing near the seashore with beautiful 
flower of foul smell). 
10. The same with salt and the bark from root of naunau. 
11. Mix with kukui (candle nut) nuts, well roasted, the kukui nuts to be well ground first and then 
the alaala hehe to be worked in. 
12. Mix with old hard cocoanut burnt to a crisp, a little kukui nut rarely done and salt. 
13. Mix with a little cinnamon. 
14. Mix with fruit of mokihana, which grows on Kauai. 
15. Mix with a few drops of brandy or other intoxicating liquors. 
16. The same with Perry Davis pain killer. 
17. The same with kerosene oil. 
18. The same with tobacco juice. 
19. The same with juice from ahuhu seeds. 
20. Mix with salt and coal from burning a little mahuna kapa. 
21. Mix with salt and coal from the sugar cane of the variety known as ainako. 
22. Salt the alaala hehe before roasting. 
The bait, when prepared, is applied to the tip of the hook and is very attractive 
to fish. Those. caught with it are usually small ones found near shore. 
In fishing for opelu, cooked squash, pumpkin, papaia, and bananas, also fish 
ground up fine and mixed with sand, are employed. 
The following additional varieties of bait are used in fishing for different species: 
Kukui and cocoanut meat baked together in equal quantities, chewed bread fruit and 
taro, opae dried and pounded, wana with shell broken to expose the meat, half- 
roasted sweet potatoes, raw ripe papaia, pounded papai, fresh and dried opae, earth- 
worms, opihi, the gall of the hee, puhi pounded up fine with sand, nehu, iiao, akule, 
scraps of meat, fish heads, etc. 
Bait boxes. — As live bait is generally used in the fisheries, suitable boxes for 
keeping it are necessary. The following are the styles in general vogue: 
When two canoes are joined together for aku (bonito) fishing, the bait box is 
swung beneath the cross trees and lashed there. It is about 20 feet long, 2 feet high 
