as I
knew he would like it. My brother consented. On going on shore early
the next morning we found the chief and several companions waiting for
us. Each person carried a tame pigeon on his arm secured by a string,
as also a bamboo thirty or forty feet long with a small net at the end
of it. Several attendants accompanied us carrying guns and ammunition.

"We shall depend upon the provisions we find in the woods for our
support," said Toa to me. "We can easily obtain all we require."

We proceeded for about four hours amid tangled bushes, across marshes,
and up the slippery sides of hills, till we arrived at a district with
here and there open spots, but generally covered with brushwood. The
attendants set to work to clear away a large circle by cutting down the
brushwood; we then retired to a spot which had been previously fixed on,
where a camp was formed, and some, arbours which would shelter us for
the night erected. Some of our people had in the meantime collected
some wild bread-fruit, dug up some wild yams, and brought down some
cocoanuts, which gave us an ample repast. Formerly the chiefs would
have indulged in drinking kava, but that custom had been abandoned.
Having satisfied our hunger we returned to our ambushes round the ring.
Each sportsman, if so he could be called, now stuck a stick with a
cross-piece on it into the ground for his pigeon, which was secured by a
string forty yards in length, to perch on. After remaining a short time
quiet Toa gave the signal, and the birds were simultaneously thrown into
the air, when they flew up and commenced, as they had been taught,
wheeling round and round. In a short time a number of wild pigeons
seeing them from a distance, and supposing from their movements that
they were hovering over their food, came from all directions to join
them. I was much surprised at the dexterity with which as the wild
birds circled among the decoy pigeons the sportsmen, rapidly raising
their nets, captured them. The moment a bird was caught the net was
again raised and another captured in the same manner. Toa in this way
caught a dozen in as many minutes. Dick and I tried our skill, but we
only knocked against the tame birds. It was a long time before I
managed to catch even one; Dick was still less successful. It seemed at
first very easy, but then it must be remembered that the rods were
upwards of thirty feet long, and that the birds flew very rapidly.
"Formerly," sa