Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
114 
promise of a good night’s sport, so the prayers 
are hurried through as quickly as possible, 
loane, the Samoan teacher, is an ardent fisher¬ 
man himself, and the moment prayers are over 
he whips off his white shirt and pants, and ties 
a titi, or girdle of leaves, around his loins. 
Outside, and all along the white beach, numbers 
of men, women, and girls are hurrying to and 
fro, getting the canoes ready. Upon the frame¬ 
work of each outrigger is placed a bundle of 
huge torches made of the dried leaves of the 
coconut palm. These torches are from 6ft. to 
1 oft. in length, and are very easily and rapidly 
made by the women. So that they may not 
be wetted by a sea breaking over them as the 
canoe crosses the reef, they are covered over 
with a coarse mat of coconut leaves, called a 
kapau. Each canoe takes four, or at the 
outside five men, two to paddle, one to steer, 
one to act as torch-bearer, and another to wield 
the scoop-net. All being in readiness, the 
canoes are lifted up, carried into the water, and 
the fishermen take their places in them, paddles 
in hand. Sometimes there are—even on little 
Nanomaga, one of the Ellice Islands, and which 
has only a population of 400 souls—as many as 
