-of-pearl about six inches long and three-quarters of an inch
wide was the lure for him. Carefully cut and polished to resemble
the body of a fish, there was attached to it on the concave side a
barb of shell or bone about an inch or an inch and a half in length,
fastened by _faufee_ fiber, with a few hog's bristles inserted. The
line was drove through the hole where the barb was fastened and,
being braided along the inner side of the pearl shank, was tied
again at the top, forming a chord to the arch. Thus when the
beguiled dolphin took the hook and strained the line, he secured
himself more firmly on the barb.

This is the best fish-hook, as it is perhaps the oldest, ever
invented, and I have found it in many parts of the South Seas, but
never more artfully made than here on Hanavave. It needs no bait,
and is a fascinating sight for the big fish, who hardly ever
discover the fraud until too late.

The line was attached to a bamboo cane about fifteen feet long, and
standing in the stern of the canoe, I handled this rod, allowing the
hook to touch the water, but not to sink. Behind me my companions,
in their red and yellow _pareus_, pushed the boat through the water
with gentle strokes of their oars. When I saw a fish approaching,
they became active, the canoe raced across the sparkling sea, and
the hook, as it skimmed along the surface, looked for all the world
like a flying fish, the bristles simulating the tail. Soon the
hastening dolphin fell upon it, and then became the tug-of-war,
bamboo pole straining and bending, the line now taut, now relaxing,
as the fish lunged, and the paddlers watching with cries of
excitement until he was hauled over the side, wet and flopping, a
feast for half a dozen.

One never-to-be-forgotten afternoon we ran unexpectedly upon a whole
school of dolphins a few miles outside the bay, and before the sun
sank I had brought from the sea twenty-six large fish. Some of these
were magnificent food-fish, weighing 150 to 200 pounds. We had to
send for two canoes to help bring in this miraculous draught, and
all the population of the valley rejoiced in the supply of fresh and
appetizing food.

The Marquesan methods of fishing are not so varied to-day as when
their valleys were filled with a happy people delighting in all
forms of exercise and prowess and needing the fish to supplement a
scanty diet. For many weeks before I came, they said, no man had gone
fishing. There were so few natives