WAYS OF THE WILD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 137, 11 June 1932, Page 1 (Supplement)

WAYS OF THE WILD.

FISHING IN THE SOLOMONS.

KITES WITH SPIDER WEB USED

(By A. T. PYCROFT.)

Captain Burgess, master of the Melanesian Mission steam yacht Southern Cross, recently gave me three spider web bails used with kites by some of the Solomon Islanders in the eastern part of that Archipelago. Guppy, in his book "The Solomon Islands," describes native fishing methods. Kite fishing is commonly employed. Some kites rudely represent a bird with expanded wings, others are square and made of palm leaf. A kito is flown in the air from the- end of a canoe, and to it a fishing line is attached in place of the usual tail. Whilst the man in the canoe paddles slowly ahead the movement of the kite whiske the bait about on the surface of the water, and when the fish bites the Kito goes down. Instead of a hook and bait, the natives usually employ for this mode of fishing some stout spider web, which gcte entangled around the teeth and snout of the fifth, and can be used several times. The explanation of this plan of catching fish is probably as follows: The kite swaying in the air offers some resemblance to an aquatic bird hovering over the water when a shoal of small iisli occurs. It thus attracts the larger fish, who aro said to follow the movements of these birds, and are thus guided in the pursuit of the smaller fry. The iish caught by this method are up to 15in in length, shaped like our piper, or garfish, but have recurved teeth. Another common method of fishing in the eastern islands, which resembles in its idea that of the kite fishing, consists in the use of a float of wood about 3ft in length and rather bigger than a walking stick. It is weighted by a stone at one end so that it floats upright in the water, a fishing line with the spider web bait being attached to its lower end. The upper end of the float, which is out of the water, is rudely cut in imitation of a wading bird, anil we have the same idea exhibited which has been described in the case of kite fishing, the figure of the bird being supposed to attract the larger fish. There is, however, this difference. A glance at one of these floats will convince anyone that a fish is not likely to be deceived by such a sorry representation of a bird. Doubtless we have here an instance of the survival of a more effective method of fishing, in which the idea has been retained, but the utility has been lost. This plan is in fact nothing more than the employment of a float, which is thrown into the water by the fisherman, who follows it up in his canoe and looks out for its bob.

Spear Frequently Employed. In the eastern islands of the group the fishing spear is frequently employed. With this weapon in his hand, the native wades in the shallow water on the flats of the reefs, and hurls it at any paeeing fish. The night time is often chosen for this mode of fishing. A party of natives provided with torches spread themselves along the cdgo of the reef and stand ready to throw their spearfi ae the fish dart by them. During the day, when the reef flats at low tide are covered only by a small depth of water, tho fishermen advance in a, semi-circle until a fish is observed, when the two wings close in and the fitili k surrounded. The head of the fish spear is composed of fine shafts of hard wood, notched at their sides and arranged around a shaft. These are bound together and tlie 'whole is fitted into the end of a etout bamboo, giving the ■ eapon a total length of about eeven feet. In the Bougainville Straits fish are often taken by the bow and arrow, which are weapons that are not in use amongst the natives of St. Christoval and the adjacent islands at the eastern end of the group.

When fishing on t*e reefs, natives are sometimes struck by the garfish with such force that they die from the wound. The possibility of this occurrence ha a recently been doubted, but that euch is the case is beyond doubt. The people of Wano, on the north coast of St. Christoval, believe that the ghosts which haunt the sea cause the flying-fish and the garfish to dart out of the water and to strike men in the canoes, and they also believe that any man thus struck will die. This superstitious belief could only have arisen from the circumstances . of natives having met their death in this manner, and it is probable that in this respect the larger flying-fieh would bo quite as much to be feared as the garfish. Mr. Moseley in his "Notes by a Naturalist," refers to such an event as not of uncommon occurrence in some of the Pacific Islands.

Ensnaring and Decoying Fish. The various ingenious methods of ensnaring and decoying fish, which are employed by the natives of this archipelago, would alone afford, to a true enthusiast in the sport of fishing, materials for a small volume. A plan employed at Ugi consisted ill tying a living fish to the end of a bamboo float and using it as a decoy for other fish.

The fisherman repairs to the reef when it is covered by a depth of between two and three feot of water. Placing the lish and bamboo float in the water, he follows them up either in his canoe or on foot. The fish swims along, drawing the bamboo float after it. It soon decoys some other fish from its retreat, when the fisherman watches his opportunity and catches the fi-sh in a hand net, which he carries with him.

A singular mode of fishing sometimes em ployed in the group is iis follows. A rock where lish resort, which lies three or four feet below the surface, is first selected. On the surface of the water is placed a ring of some supple stem so as to include within its circumfer-

ence the rock beneath. No (ish on the rock will pass under this ring, which is gradually contracted in size until the fish become crowded together, when they are scooped up with a hand net. Another method of catching small lish is as follows: A pliant twig is firet bent into an oval hoop, about a foot in length, over which is spread n covering of a stout spider well. Having placed this hoop on the surface of flic water, buoying it up on two light sticks, a portion of a nest of ants w.-is shaken over it. thus covering the wen with a number ol struggling inspotn. ThN snare was tl '. c, ' allowed to float down the **£%„*££ the little fish. wind, were bcW and throe indies long, cor'" .. <fl „•£„; T;.ti,owwg from underneath tlie '. wcb on not seeing tlie 1 "jf appeared nearly which they I-Ve 4ater. P Tn a ehort transparent fo «£ „ flrfl succeeded . iimc {? m J'ih!ir snouts and ffilte tangled in pottlnp tp ■ - tJve , lt oJlce waded fl