thigh into a strong whip-cord, or finer
twine, according to the size of the meshes of the net. As the good
lady's cord lengthens, she fills her netting-needle, and when that is
full, works it into her net. Their wooden netting-needles are exactly
the same in form as those in common use in Europe. One evening, in
taking a walk, Mrs. Turner and I stood for a few minutes and looked at
a woman working a net. Mrs. Turner begged to be allowed to do a bit,
took the needle, and did a few loops, to the no small amazement of the
woman, who wondered how a European lady could know how to handle a
_Samoan_ netting-needle, and do _Samoan_ work.

They make nets of all sizes, from the small one of eighteen inches
square to the seine of a hundred feet long. A net forty feet long and
twelve feet deep can be had for native mats, or white calico, to the
value of twenty shillings. A hundred men may be able to muster some
twenty nets. These they unite together, and, in the lagoon off their
settlement, take large quantities of mullet and other fish.

_The pearl-shell fish-hook_ is another article long in use, and in the
manufacture of which the Samoans show some ingenuity. They cut a strip
off the shell, from two to three inches long, and rub it smooth on a
stone, so as to resemble a small fish. On the under side, or what may
be called the belly, of this little mock fish, they fasten a hook made
of tortoise-shell, or, it may be, nowadays, an English steel one.
Alongside of the hook, concealing its point, and in imitation of the
fins of a little fish, they fasten two small white feathers. Without
any bait, this pearl-shell contrivance is cast adrift at the stern of
a canoe, with a line of twenty feet, and from its striking resemblance
to a little fish it is soon caught at, and in this way the Samoans
secure a large quantity of their favourite food. No European fish-hook
has yet superseded this purely native invention. They bait and use the
steel fish-hook, however, and in some cases use it on their
pearl-shells, as we have just remarked, instead of the tortoise-shell
fish-hook.

_A curious native drill_ is seen in connection with the manufacture of
these little shell fish-hooks. Fine holes are drilled through the
shell for the purpose of making fast the hook as well as the line, and
the instrument to which we refer answers the purpose admirably. For
the sake of comparison with other parts of the world, this simple
contrivance is worth a fe