haul up to him."

For fully five minutes the canoe went flying over the water, and I
continued to haul in line fathom by fathom, until I caught sight of,
deep down in the water right ahead, a great phosphorescent boil and
bubble. Then the pace began to slacken, as the gallant fighter began to
turn from side to side, shaking his head and making futile breaks from
port to starboard. Bidding me come amidships with the line, Ioane took
in his paddle, and picked up the harpoon which we always carried on the
outrigger platform in case of meeting a turtle. Nearer and nearer came
the great fish, till, with a splash of phosphorescent light and spray,
he came to the surface, beating the water with his forked and bony tail,
and still trying to get a chance for another downward run. Then Ioane,
waiting his opportunity, sent the iron clean through him from side to
side, and I sat down and watched, with a thrill of satisfaction and a
sigh of relief, his final flurry. In a few minutes we hauled him
alongside, drew the harpoon, and with some difficulty managed to get him
over the side and lower him into the bottom of the canoe amidships,
where he lay fore and aft, his curved back standing up nearly a foot and
a half above the raised gunwale. Although not above four feet in length,
he was nearly three in depth, and about sixteen inches thick at the
shoulder--a truly noble fish.

"We have done well," said the teacher, with a pleased laugh, as he
hauled in his own line and dropped a 6-lb. _utu_ into the canoe. "There
will be much talk over this to-morrow, for these people here are very
conceited, and think that no one but themselves can catch _lahe'u_ and
_pala_. They will know better now, when they see this one."

We returned to the shore within two hours from the time we left, with my
_lahe'u_, an _utu_, and five or six salmon-like fish called _tau-tau_,
all nocturnal feeders, and all highly thought of by the natives,
especially the latter. The _lahe'u_ we hung up under the missionary's
verandah, and at daylight I had the intense satisfaction of seeing a
crowd of natives surrounding it, and of hearing their flattering
allusions to myself as a _papalagi masani tonu futi ika_--a white man
who really could fish like a native.

_On a Tidal River_

The English visitor to the Eastern Colonies of Australia who is in
search of sport with either rod or hand line can always obtain excellent
fishing in the summer months even in such