Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
3 6 
shrilly-crying birds, the water becomes a wild, 
seething swirl of froth and foam, for the bonito 
are travelling swiftly onward, snapping and 
leaping at the persecuted kanae , and their tens 
of thousands of bodies of shining blue and silver 
sparkle brightly in the sun. And then with a 
wild shout of glee the leading canoes shoot into 
the fray, quickly followed by the others. 
“ Tu ! Tu ! ” (“ Stand up, stand ! ”) cry the 
paddlers amidships, and in an instant the men 
seated for’ard and aft drop their paddles, seize 
their rods, and each man bracing his right leg 
against the rounded thwart on which he has 
been sitting, swings his bright, baitless hook 
into the whirl below. Almost ere it touches 
the water a fish leaps to it, the tough rod of 
pua quivers and trembles, the fisher grunts, and 
then with a strong, swift, and steady sweep of 
his naked arms, and a triumphant cry of 
“ Matt! ” (“ Struck ”) the first atu, ten pounds 
of sheeny blue and polished silver, is swung 
clear of the water and dropped into the canoe, 
where he kicks and struggles among the 
paddlers’ feet. In another minute every other 
canoe is hard at work, and the loud shouts and 
cries of the excited natives add to the din of 
