Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1882-10-07

A = Honolulu correspondent SAYS night
heioTe last The moon being c'lala-hidden
Tor time, we hat a 1crchl,gh, fishing ex-
curslon. Putting on rubber shoes. which
are necessary 10 walk over the coral r-fs,
We waced out, sec dompenIcd by natives
hearing torches and pears. some of them
gong IN canoes. The nalive. are very
expert 3, this hni o.. fishing, which ls an
extremely picturesque sight, viewed from
the land. but u rather difficult B. asslst at,
the rollers constantly over-,urn,ng US anna
teurs, landing us among the cnrals. from
which We recovered smartiug with innau,-
erable sonlaAss* 1hs torsslsA, aupeArs
10 fascinate the dsh. They swim up 10 lis
rays, and lie quiyerine, almost nlo,ionless,
staring at the light, while native with
sure, q1lck thrust. iInpaies thcm on the
spear. tried it. felt confident that my
arm was ali right, but my spear mysteri-'
ously slid OFT INTO d,lsky. uncertain dis
tancc, where the big toe of the young
American happened To be. Happily, the
| big toe was rubber-incaseu, and tie spear
did not penetrate, though the way in which
that youth lifted up his voice ani y.lled,
| spoiled our fishing for that night fiis
terror was afterward explained when he
tod ME that he thought deyil-iish had
claimed hun for his own. HIS fright was
notwithout excuse, fer one Of the natives
did scoop up devil IL. abou, three feet
| across its Longest arms Our host owns
the fishing rightpn ,ht reef opposite his
place, which he lets to some Reighbo-ing
natives on liberal terms, in return tor
which they bring to him the choicest. of
their catch. The best fish here, in my
opinion, is the kumn, Of royal fish-a beau
tifui, brilliant red( fish, shaped like the
perch. A common fish is the umauma. OF
silver mullet. Our torchlight fishing ex
cursiOn returned good basketfui of thes.
two.
Another Plan of reef fishing is by gan,
powder. Four of us waded out oAe day
with powder cartridge, fused anu capped
to hlgh reef nearly exposed at low tide.
One kept cigar lighted, and, judging oll
time between two rollers, the cartridge was
dropped over the edge OF the reef. the end
of the fuse " as lighted with the cigar, and
dropped, and We retired as hastily as pos
slble to await results. Hastily retiring is
not just the easiest thing in the world,
through breakers and over broken cora
reefs. and is generally accomplished only
with various stnnbles and falls III crevices
between the coral, when one has to SWIM
for 1t until a high reef Is reached again
We alted at sale distance until low
boom, co4umn Of spray and broken cora
dashed high IN the air, told US the explo
. SLOT. had occurred. aud then, VIII GU
scooplng nets, we made for the scene o
: action. A score OF kumu aud mullets
{ stunned by the CONCLUSION, hosted on th'
surface. The trick is to scoop fish ant
! not &c. scooped yourself l got scooped
| saw brilliant kumu jast recoverin.
, Consciousness, and liable to get away from
, me if 10. quickly taken into camp.
, pushed quickly Oh, stumbling, splashing
| yelling and excited, until suddenly wen
, down, something less than mile, in
deep spot had not noticed, and, of course
had to swim for 1t, and climbed out 0
the next reef, minus scoop and sans kutnu
Enough were captured To make break
: fast.