FISHING. 159 
At about twelve o'clock, they have a plain 
and substantial breakfast, or dinner, consisting 
of yams and sweet potatoes, made into a kind of 
bread, for which they do not fail to ask God's 
blessing, and to render Him thanks. 
Hand of bounty, largely spread, 
By whom our every want is fed ; 
Whate'er we touch, or taste, or see, 
We owe them all, Lord, to Thee. 
Heber. 
So strict is their observance of the duty of 
saying grace before and after meals, that " we 
do not know," says Captain Beechy, " of any 
instance in which it has been forgotten. On one 
occasion I had engaged Adams in conversation, 
and he incautiously took the first mouthful 
without having said his grace ; but before he 
had swallowed it, he recollected himself, and, 
feeling as if he had committed a crime, imme- 
diately put away what he had in his mouth, 
and commenced his prayer." 
Fishing for a kind of cod, grey mullet, and 
red snapper, though no very hopeful pursuit in 
the deep "water round the island, occasionally 
forms part of the day's employment. Nor of the 
day only ; for sometimes they go forth at night 
among the rocks close to the sea, or row out 
in a canoe, and taking a light, attract the fish, 
which they strike with a pole, armed with five 
barbed prongs, and so take. 
Suppose, however, the islander returned from 
his day's labour to his supper, at about -seven 
o'clock in the evening. Except once or twice 
a- week, no fish, meat, or poultry will be found 
L 
