to a little fish it is soon caught at, and in this way the Samoans
secure a large quantity of their favourite food. No European fish-hook
has yet superseded this purely native invention. They bait and use the
steel fish-hook, however, and in some cases use it on their
pearl-shells, as we have just remarked, instead of the tortoise-shell
fish-hook.

_A curious native drill_ is seen in connection with the manufacture of
these little shell fish-hooks. Fine holes are drilled through the
shell for the purpose of making fast the hook as well as the line, and
the instrument to which we refer answers the purpose admirably. For
the sake of comparison with other parts of the world, this simple
contrivance is worth a few lines of description. Take a piece of wood,
eighteen inches long, twice the thickness of a cedar pencil. Fasten
with a strong thread a fine-pointed nail, or a sail-needle, to the end
of this sort of spindle. Get a thick piece of wood, about the size of
what is called in England a "hot cross bun," and in Scotland a
"cookie," bore a hole in the centre of it, run the spindle through it,
and wedge it fast about the middle of the spindle. At the top of the
spindle fasten two strings, each nine inches long, to the ends of
these strings attach the ends of a common cedar pencil, forming a
triangle with a wooden base and string sides. Stand up the machine
with your left hand, place the iron point where you wish to bore a
hole, and steady the spindle with your left hand. Take hold of the
pencil handle of the upper triangle, twirl round the spindle with your
left hand, which will coil on the strings at the top to the spindle,
pull down the pencil handle quickly, and then the machine will spin
round. Work the handle in this way up and down, like a pump, the cord
will alternately run off and on to the spindle, and the machine will
continue to whirl round, first one way and then the other, until the