a hook, using every possible kind of bait;
but the natives assured me that I was only wasting my time, as they fed
only upon a long thread-like worm, which lived in the coral, and that
a spear or the _oap_ was the only way of capturing them. So far I had
never actually handled one, but on this occasion we secured some dozens.
Here and there we caught sight of a young hawk-bill turtle darting out
of sight under the ledge of the overhanging walls of coral, putting to
flight thousands of small fish of a score of shapes and colours.

We waited until the tide had fallen still lower and until the whole
surface of the great sweeping curve of reef stood out, bare and
steaming, under the bright tropic sun. Westward lay the ocean, blue
and smooth as a mill pond, with only a gentle, heaving swell laving
the outer wall of the coral barrier. Here and there upon its surface
communities of snowy white terns hovered and fluttered, feeding upon
small fish, or examining floating weed for tiny red and black crabs no
bigger than a pea. Eastward and across the now shallowed water of the
lagoon was our village of Leasse, the russet-hued, saddle-backed houses
of thatch peeping out from the coco-palms and breadfruit-trees; beyond,
the broken, rugged outline of the towering mountain range, garmented
from base to summit with God's mantle of living green; overhead a sky ot
wondrous, un-specked blue.

We were all sitting on the rocks, on the margin of the best and largest
pool, smoking and chatting, when at a sign from Kusis, who was the head
man (or local chief) of the village, the women took their bundles of
_oap_ and laying the plants upon smooth portions of the reef began to
pound them with round, heavy stones, brought from the village for the
purpose. As each bundle was crushed and the sticky white juice exuded,
it was rolled into a ball, used like a sponge to wipe up and absorb all
the liquid that had escaped, and then handed to the men and boys, who
leapt into the pool, and dived to the bottom, thrusting the balls of
_oap_ underneath every lower ledge and crevice, and then rising quickly
to the surface and clambering out again. In less than five minutes the
once crystal water had changed to a pale milky white, thousands upon
thousands of tiny fish, about half an inch in length, and of many hues,
began to rise to the surface; then others of a larger size, which the
women at once scooped up with small nets; then presently, with much
splashi