204 
Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
water and coming down again with a sounding 
thwack, then darting with lightning speed to 
port and then to starboard ; and, as he realises 
it is not a joke, making a wild dive deep down 
into the coral caverns of the lagoon. But 
the doctor keeps a steady pull, and with a 
cry of triumph he lands his fish at last 
upon the rocks. 
“ Aue ! ” shouts the lively Vaitupu. “ Oh, 
Mi si Fo Mai (medicine man) ; oh, clever 
American, you, too, are a lucky man thus to 
catch such a fish with a steel hook.” 
And now the calm waters of the pool begin 
to swell, and gently lap the sides of the coral 
rocks; it is the tide turning, and the place 
seems alive with fish of all sorts of colours and 
shapes. Quickly as we drop our lines, there is 
a tug and a splash, and every one of our party 
is too actively employed on his own account to 
heed the prowess of his companions. Half an 
hour or more and we retire from the field of our 
exploits to the little house on the beach, and, 
whilst resting on the mats, have the pleasurable 
satisfaction of seeing the boy laboriously 
dragging our captures over the coral reef and 
depositing them on the beach. 
