is then closed with a few stones; afterwards the natives 
begin to spear them with great dexterity, and many were 
obtained. It was gratifying to witness the pleasure that 
both old end young appeared to take in this employment, 
and quite surprising that the fish do not escape over the 
low wall that surrounds them, only two or three inches above 
the water; but they appear bewildered.” He says of Tahiti 
"the small streams flowing through luxuriant woods, add much 
to ite beauty; these run bubbling along to the sea, passing 
many cool and pleasant places: their entrances are usually 
closed up by the natives, for the purpose of taking fish, a 
sort of dam being constructed, over which the weter flows, 
and the natives, standing on the outside up to their waists 
in water, are often seen taking the fish in baskets.” 
- 
At San Pablo Island in the Paumotu Group, two large 
fish, evidently scaroidts, were received from the natives, 
"the smaller of which measured five feet two inches in length, 
and its greatest circumference was four feet four inches. 
These proved to be excellent food. They were remarkable for 
their splended €dlour, the great size of the canine teeth 
in each jaw, and a large protuberance over the eyes; the head 
was without scales, the body being covered with large cir- 
cular plates, over which the epidermis was very thick and 
of a rich blue colour, with regular concentric stripes of 
yellowish white; the fins and tails were striped with strea- 
ight lines of alternate blue and yellow: the lips were fleshy, 
and the jaws strong and bony. 
