an overhanging twig or bank, and, by a well-directed shot, tumbles the unsuspecting insect into the water. A drop of water is what the fish uses as its bullet.
With their little arrows and shooting tubes, the Colymbians kill a great many birds, some of which are tolerably good food. I found the sport rather tame after a few trials, for it somehow went against my native instincts to slaughter sitting game.
I much preferred the shark and turtle hunts in the deep external sea, and would sometimes join the pearl-fishers in their distant expeditions. The pearl-oysters are not found in very deep water, and we had to seek them at a good distance from the islands, in places where the depth of water was not above ten or fifteen fathoms. As we had to traverse a considerable breadth of ocean before reaching these shoal grounds, in order to avoid the attack of sharks, we carried short sticks, with sharp steel points, and if by chance one of these monsters attempted to interfere with us, a few pricks from our weapon soon sent him about his business.
The pearl-oysters are found in extensive beds, and as they are of considerable size, we could not carry off very many. So they are generally opened on the spot, and the pearls, if any, extracted. Immense shoals of fishes surrounded us whilst we were engaged in the work of opening the shells, and the bodies of the oysters were gobbled up as fast as they were extracted. In this way we could gather a considerable number of pearls; and the finest shells were carried off to be used in the manufacture of the Colymbian bank-notes.
The pearl-fishers are sometimes anticipated in their visits to the oyster-beds by shoals of enormous skates,
