They have Cast Nets also for Small fry, both Square & Circular and throw them with great dexterity and when the Fish Comes into the Shoal water to spawn they get a quantity of Cocoa nut leaves from which they take the Stems and tying them together, twist them the inside forming a kind of rope with the leaves all round it this they Call Row and with this they Sweep the reefs & Shoal Water and bring whole Schools of Fish to the Beach where they apply their small Seins and lade Nets to land them — They also sweep the Beaches with those small Seines with a Man at each end who wade out till they are up to their Necks together and then seperating to the length of the Net walk in & often (especially in the Night) and at the Mouths of the rivers have good hauls. They Catch plenty of Fine rock fish in pots, and Wares; and are excellent hands at diving after them and I have seen a Diver in Clear Water and Calm weather pursue a Fish from one hole in the rocks to another without coming up to breath; but in rough weather they cannot see to follow them, the bottom being darken’d by the ripple on the Surface — the most curious part of this fishery is that of taking the Hedge hog fish and Sea Cat — the one being so full of prickles that they can take hold no where but by the Eyes, which is the Method by which they get them as very few are caught any other way — and the others adhere so close to the rocks, that it is as much as two men can do at times to haul them off and I have seen them in 3 or 4 fathom forced to quit them and come up several times before they could accomplish their end; if a Stone lies handy below they kill the fish there, & then they get it off easy. This may seem an odd Method of Fishing but I have seen it attended with good Success and the Divers return in a few hours with large Strings of fine Fish. In the Night they fish in Canoes & on the reefs for different sorts of Fish, which they Draw round them by lighting bundles of reeds and have nets made to scoop them up and put into their Baskets.

In the rainy season they Catch large quantitys of Small Fry at the Mouths of the rivers by means of a large bag made of the Membranous Stratums of the Cocoa Nut tree sewed together, the

Indigenous Histories