The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-11-18

sionary instead. He was a good mis
 si0nary, but a better fisherman.
 Three miles from Nanomaga is sub merger reef, marked on the chart a! the Grand Coral Reef, but known tc
 the natives as Tia Kau, the reef" |
 is reality a vast mountain of coral
 whose bases lie 200 fathoms deep, witt
 a 'fattened summit of about fifty acres
 in extent rising to within five fathoms
 of the surface of the sea. This spot is
 fish, both deep-sea hunting and surface
 swimming. Some of the latter, such as
 the resort of incredible numbers oi
 the pala-a lang, scaleless, beautifully
 formed fish, with a head of bony plates
 and teeth like a .ripsaw--are of great size, and afford splendid sport as they are game fighters, and almost as power ful as the porpoise. They run to over 100 pounds, and yet are by no means a coarse fish,. In the shallow water on the top of this mountain reef there are some nine varieties of rock cod, none of which were of any great size; but far below, at depth of from 50 to 70 fathoms, there were truly some monstrous fish Of this species, and l and my mission ary friend had the luck to catch the four largest ever taken--221 pounds 2O9 pounds. 11S pounds, and Ill pounds. I had caught when fishing for schnapper in 30 fathoms of Camden Haven on the coast of New South Wales, a mottled black and gray rock cod, which weighed S3 pounds, and was assured by the Sydney Museum authorities that such weight for a rock cod was rare in that part of the Pacific, but that beche-de- mer fishermen on the Great Barrier Reef had occasionally captured fish of the same variety of double that size and weight. r.'
 Not having boat we ffshed from ca- noe-a light, but strong, and beautiful ly constructed vraft, with 'whalebacks" fore and aft to keep it from being swamped by seas when facing or run ming from a surf. The outrigger was formed of a very light wood, called pua, about fifteen inches in circumference. With the teacher and myself there us- ually went With us third man, whose duty it was to keep the canoe head to wind, for anchoring in deep water in such a tiny craft was out of the ques- tion, as well as dangerous, should heavy fish or shark get foul of the outrgger. Capsizes in the daytime we did not mind, but at night numbers of gray sharks were always cruising around and they were then especially savage and daring.
 Leaving the pretty little village. which was embowered in a palm grove on the lee side of the island we would, if intending to fish on the Tia Kau, make a start before dawn, remain there till the canoe was loaded to her raised gunwale pieces with the weght of fish, and then return. Night fishing on the Tia Kau by the single canoe was for bidden by the kaupule (head men) as being too dangerous on account of the sharks and so usually from ten to twenty canoes set out together. If one did then come to grief through being swamped or capsized by having the 0utrigger fouled by shark, there was always assistance near at hand, and it rarely happened that any of the crew were bitten. In 1872, however, fearful tragedy occurred on the Tia Kau, when a party of seventy natives, men women, and children. who were crossing to the island of Nanomea, were
  the reef by squall at night. Only two to tell the tale,
 If, however, we meant to try for takuo, a huge variety of the mackerel tribe, or laheu, magnificent bream- shaped fish, we had no need to go so far { as the dangerous Tia Kau. threa or four cable lengths from the beach, and right | in front of the village, we could lie in water as smooth as glass, and seventy fathoms in depth. Our bait was invari- [ ably flying fish. freshly caught, or the ! tentacles of an octopus My lines were [ of white American cotton, and I gene rally used two hooks one below and | one above the sinker both baited with l whole flying fish, while my companions generally used wooden or iron hooks. of their own manufacture, and lines from oibiscus bark or cocoanut fibre
 shall always remember with pleasure my first lahe'u. l was accompanied by he native teacher alone, and we pad He'd off from the village just after even- ng service and brought to about quar- er of mile outside of the reef. The est of the islanders had gone round in heir canoes to the weather side of the title island to fish for takuo, for we were expecting malaga, or party of | visitors from the Island of Nukufetau, Il a day or two, and unusual supplies # fish had to be obtained, to sustain lot only the islands record as the fish ng centre of the universe, but the peo- )le's reputation and hospitality