Page:Some Account of New Zealand.pdf/77

58 their modes of catching fish; but as they do not differ from those in use amongst the natives of other islands of the pacific ocean, it will not be necessary to dwell upon them, or detail them minutely. The larger fish are sometimes speared, but the usual method of taking them, of all sizes, is by means of nets and hooks.

The nets are composed of line formed of the native flax, and are large, and well adapted to the purposes for which they are intended.

The hooks are formed of the outer rim of the ear-shell, well polished, and barbed at the extremity. The line is of flax, and of great strength and durability: their quality indeed is so excellent, that it is desirable to obtain some of them for the purpose of taking bonetas, albicore, or dolphin, on the passage to Europe. The natives will receive our fish-hooks in exchange for them.

The fish-hook, whether native or European, they call mattow.

The bait made use of is usually a limpet,