ARTS AND MANUFACTURES

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The subsistence of the common people was, on thewhole, poor and scanty.

Fishing. — Fishing was next to agriculture in impor-tance, and was carried on with great ingenuity and skill.The ancient fishermen had a most intimate knowledge ofall the different kinds of fish frequenting the seas, andof their habits and feeding-grounds. All the shoals andhidden rocks for several miles out to sea were well knownto them, as well as the different kinds of fish frequentingeach. There were many modes of fishing—by spearing,by baskets, by hook and line, and with nets. Thespearing was chiefly practiced by divers under water, orat night by torchlight in shallow water.

Hooks. —Their hooks were made of bone, of mother-of-pearl, of whales’ teeth, and of tortoise-shell, and were ofmany styles, adapted to different kinds of fish. A showyvariety of cowry was used to attract the hee or squid.

Nets. — Their nets were made of twine spun from thestrong and durable fiber of the olona (Touchardia latifolia),and were of many different patterns and sizes, which maybe divided into two classes—long nets, sometimes overone hundred fathoms in length, and bag-nets. The longnets were often drawn into large circles, so as to incloseshoals of fish, and sometimes ropes hundreds of fathomsin length, having dry hi leaves braided to them by thestems and hanging down in the water, were used tosweep around and drive the fish into the net, thus in-closing thousands at one haul. The numerous artificialfish-ponds, already referred to, are not found in southernPolynesia .

Fish-poison. —Another method of catching fish was bythe use of a poisonous plant, the aiohuhu or hola (Tephro-sia piscatoria), which was bruised and placed by divers