fty or sixty
_tautau_ came right up to the boulder on which we stood, and were
so dazed by the glare of light that poured down on them, that some
permitted themselves to be captured by the hand.

Lower and lower fell the water, and as the shore end of the trap became
dry, the fish were gradually forced to come closer and closer together
as their swimming space diminished. By-and-by, as the receding tide
left the chain of coral rocks dry on their summits, women waded out with
firewood, and built fires on them; not that there was now any danger
of the fish breaking away, but to give a still better light. At last,
however, the word was passed along the line that the sea end of the
drive had been strengthened by additional nets in case a sudden rush
might occur; but, by this time, so rapidly was the water running out,
that even at the deepest end there was not perhaps two feet available
for the now terrified and struggling swarms of _tautau_. In another
twenty minutes there was heard a most extraordinary sound, caused by
thousands upon thousands of fish thrashing and jumping about on the
sand; while at the sea end of the drive, where the great body of all
were massed together, the scene was simply indescribable. What
little water was left was beaten into froth and foam by their violent
struggles, and the light from the torches showed that a space of
about five acres in extent was covered with a shining, silvery mass
of splendid _tautau_, intermixed with a small number of gorgeous-hued
rock-fish, cray-fish, and some hawk-bill turtle.

The work of picking up the prizes went on for at least two hours. Three
or four of the _tautau_ placed in a basket was as much as a woman could
carry, and, although everyone present worked hard, some thousands of
fish were not taken. Many of these, however, were not dead, and, with
the incoming tide, swam off again. All the young turtle, however,
were secured, the natives taking them up carefully and putting them in
walled-in pools where they would remain prisoners.

We tried to ascertain the number of fish taken, but gave it up. Every
house and canoe-shed appeared to have the floor covered with them, and
for the next day or two there were great fish dinners on the island.

Some thousands of _tautau_ were split open and dried upon platforms in
the same manner as the natives of Eastern Polynesia dry flying-fish, and
the Fraser River Indians their salmon.

We succeeded in buying a fine lot o