ll in
position, and the word was given to let go lines. The particular spot in
which we were congregated was about three acres in extent and about
seven fathoms in depth, with water as clear as crystal; and even the
dullest eye could discern the smallest pebble or piece of broken coral
lying upon the bottom, which was generally composed of patches of coarse
sand surrounded by an interlacing fringe of growing coral, or white,
blue, or yellow boulders. A glance over the side showed us that the
_gatala_ had arrived; we could see numbers of them swimming lazily to
and fro beneath, awaiting the flowing tide which would soon cover the
lagoon from one shore to the other with swarms of young bonito, as they
swam about in search of such places as that in which we were now about
to begin fishing.

Each man had baited his hook with the third of an _atuli_--at this stage
of their life about four inches long and exactly the colour and shape of
a young mackerel--and within five minutes after "_Tu'u tau kafa_!"
("Let go lines!") had been called out several of the canoes around our
own began to pull up fish--four to six pounders. I was fishing with a
white cotton line, with two hooks, and Mareko with the usual native
gear--a hand-made line of hibiscus bark with a barbless hook made from a
long wire nail, with its point ground fine and well-curved inwards. We
both struck fish at the same moment, and I knew by the zigzag pull that
I had two. Up they came together--three spotted beauties about eighteen
inches in length and weighing over 5 lbs. each. Then I found the
advantage of the native style of hook; Mareko simply put his left thumb
and forefinger into the fish's eye, had his hook free in a moment, had
baited, lowered again and was pulling up another before I had succeeded
in freeing even my first hook which was firmly fixed in the fish's
gullet, out of sight. I soon put myself on a more even footing by
cutting off the small one and a half inch hooks I had been using and
bending on two thick and long-shanked four inchers. These answered
beautifully, as although the barbs caused me some trouble, their stout
shanks afforded a good grip and leverage when extracting them from the
hard and keen-toothed jaws of the struggling fish. Then, too, I had
another advantage over my companions; I was wearing a pair of seaboots
which effectually protected my feet from either the terrible fins or the
teeth of the fish in the bottom of the canoe.

I