The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-12-27
FISHING
BY NIGHT.
Methods OF Fiawaiians
In Waters About
Islands.
CBy Mrs. E. NJ. B. Nakuina).

CBy Mrs. E. NJ. B. Nakuina)
Torchlight fishing is practised on calm
dark nights. The fish are either
caught with small scoop nets, or are
speared Torchlight fishing is always
in shallow water where one can wade.
The fisherman must be spry and light
of step, passing through the water
without a splash to disturb the fish
which remain quiet as if dazzled by the
light unless alarmed by the splashing
or conclusions in the water. The
torches are made of split bamboos Sc
cured at regular intervals with XII
leaves, Dracoena terminals or twigs of
the naio Spurious sandal wood) bound
together in the same manner. Should
1 the light burn with a pale flame, then
the fisherman will not meet with good
luck, but if the torches burn with a
bright red flame, he will be apt to be
very successful.
/ The Hawaiians have four kinds of
basket fshing-Hinai. The Hinai opae,
sometimes called aqua opae, is a basket
looking something like the coal scuttle
bonnets of hundred years ago, and
is woven from the air roots of the
lFreycinetia Arborea Qeie). This is used
for mountain shrimping, and women al
ways attend to it. They move in a
Icrouching position through the water,
| moving small stones and thrusting
| sticks under the larges ones to drive
| the shrimp to a suitable place which is
| always some place where the grass,
| ferns, or branches of trees droop over
| N w he hri f1lyo rofI
in or under these and the fisherwoman
places her basket under the leaves and
lifts them out of the water, when the
! shrimpS drop into the basket; she then
| unties the small end and drops them
| into small mouthed gourd attached to
| string, which she keeps floating after
/ her for that purpose, and putting some
| fern leaves inside the gourd to keep the
shrimps from creeping out, as these are
lively little fellows who live long time
out of water and scamper about on
TERRA frma like cockroaches. The Hinai
| Hooluuluu is used in Hinalea. fishing
Ca small species of Julis,) and is small
| basket made from the vines of the awi-
kiwiki, convolvulus, and it is renewed
from day to day as wanted. A light
frame work of twigs is first tied to-
gether and then the vines, leaves and
| all, are wound in and out round and
round till of the requisite size, three or
| four feet in circumference and about
| one and half in depth. Shrimp pound
| ed and enclosed in cocoanut fibre is oc-
casionally placed in the bottom of the
basket for bait, but usually the scent of
the bruised and whitening leaves seems
| to be sufficient. They wade out to suit
able places, generally small sandy OPEN
| ings in coral ground or reef, and let
the baskets down suitably weighted to
keep them in position, the weights at
| tached in such a way as to be easily
detached. Each woman then moves
away from her basket to some distance,
but from where she can watch the fish
enter the basket. When all the fish
| that are in sight have entered, they
| take the basket up and transferring the
| fish to a large small-mouthed gourd,
move the basket to fresh place. Fish
ing in this way can only be carried on,
on calm sunny day, and at low tide.
Since the introduction of the weeping
willow, baskets for this fishing are
sometimes made of willow twigs. Such
can be used over and over again. Men
sometimes take such baskets and using
wanna (sea eggs, for bait, with the top
OF the shell broken to expose the meat,
place them in comparatively deep wa
ter, piling stones around them to keep
them in place. They leave them for a
day or two, and if the place is good
fishing ground the basket will be full
by the time they come for it.
The Uiui basket is shallow, of about
the same size as the above but wider
mouthed, used in deep water for catch |
ing small fiat fish called uiui that
makes its appearance at intervals of |
from ten, fifteen to twenty years |
Whenever it appears it is taken by fish, |
ermen and people generally as a sure |
precursor of the death of a very high |
chief At the last appearance of the
uiui, the imported marketing baskets
We're generally used by those who could |
not obtain the old-fashioned kind. as
any old cast-away basket would do.
with little patching, occupying per-
haps five minutes, and two sticks bent
over the mouth or opening from side to
side, and at right angles to each other
for handle TO which to tie the draw
string. 1t should be twisted round and
round above the jointure with a little
OF the sea convolvulus, (pohuehue)
with the leaves on, so as to throw a
little shade in the basket to keep the
hsh from being drawn up to the sur
face of the water. In these baskets
cooked pumpkins, half roasted sweet
potatoes or raw ripe papayas We're plac-
ed for bait. The canoes thus provided
would sail right into the midst of a
school of these fish; the basket being
lowered a few feet into the sea. the fish
being attracted by the scent of the bait;
would rush into the baskets and feed
greed1ly. AS soon as the baskets were
Iuli OF hsh they would be drawn up and
emptied into the canoe and then lowered
again, with more bait if necessary. and
this would go on till the canoe was
loaded or the fisherman was tired.
These fish are very good eating when
they first arrive, as they are fat. with
liver very much enlarged; after a
month they become thinner, not per-
maps procuring their proper food here,
and then taste strong and rank