(which was coarse and clumsy) much like a heavy salmon. The back was
covered with light green scales, the sides and belly a pure silver, and
the fins and tail tipped with yellow. It weighed about 20 lbs., and
presented a very handsome appearance.

The fishing-ground to which we were now paddling was not half a mile
from the islets, and lay between them and the outer reef which formed
its northern boundary. It consisted of a series of deep channels or
connected pools running or situated amidst a network of minor reefs, the
surfaces of which were, for the most part, bare at low water. Generally
the depth was from eight to ten fathoms; in places, however, it was much
deeper, and I subsequently found that there were spots whereon I could
stand (on the coral ledge) and drop my line into chasms of thirty-two or
thirty-three fathoms. Here the water was almost as blue to the eye as
the ocean, and here the very largest fish resorted--such as the _pura_,
a species of rock-cod, and a blue-scaled groper, the native name of
which I cannot now recall.

It must have been nearly ten o'clock when the canoes were all in
position, and the word was given to let go lines. The particular spot in
which we were congregated was about three acres in extent and about
seven fathoms in depth, with water as clear as crystal; and even the
dullest eye could discern the smallest pebble or piece of broken coral
lying upon the bottom, which was generally composed of patches of coarse
sand surrounded by an interlacing fringe of growing coral, or white,
blue, or yellow boulders. A glance over the side showed us that the
_gatala_ had arrived; we could see numbers of them swimming lazily to
and fro beneath, awaiting the flowing tide which would soon cover the
lagoon from one shore to the other with swarms of young bonito, as they
swam about in search of such places as that in which we were now about