Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/236

212 and Frank was told that from twelve to twenty thousand of these sharks are taken in the bay of Waitamata every year, and either dried for winter food or eaten fresh. Out of curiosity our friends took a luncheon of shark steak, which had been baked on a hot stone after the native fashion. They found it palatable, but rather tasteless, and so dry that Fred suggested oiling each mouthful, or smothering it with butter. It was unanimously voted that shark with the Maoris was not half as enjoyable as salmon with the Indians of the Columbia River, or shad with the fishermen of Delaware Bay.



More palatable than shark steak were the oysters which abound in the bay. The island of Kawau has a coast-line of about thirty miles, and all around it there are oyster-beds, some of them of great extent. Not only do the oysters grow on the rocks and in the water, but they cling to the overhanging limbs of the trees, and grow there quite contented with their immersion of a few hours twice a day during the