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Niuē-fekai (or Savage) Island and its People

Fish (Ika;)

Fish (Ika;)

Niuē possesses a great variety of fish, of which some are richly colored, and many good to eat, but dry, as compared with New Zealand fish. I obtained a list of 52 fish that are eaten, but it would be tedious to enumerate them all, though a few may be mentioned. The whale is called tafua; the shark, magō: the turtle, fonu: the sword-fish, haku and haku-piu; the takua is the bonito; the hahare and hipa are flying-fishes; toke is the conger-eel; loli, a sea-slug; feke, the cuttle-fish; whilst tuna is a little fresh-water fish, a name applied to the eel in most parts. Cray-fish are to be found (called uo), but I imagine are not common, for I saw none, though crabs of many kinds are plentiful; and, in addition to the salt-water crab, there is one (the uga) which is a land crab that is often seen about the houses, roads, page 26 &e.; it is eaten by the natives. There is also a sea-snake called katuali, but I saw none; it is quite harmless. The Niuē people are great fishermen, and nearly every night when the moon is not too bright their little canoes may be seen passing along the coast with their bright torches, making a very pretty scene. I was told by the master of a vessel who formerly traded to the island that he was never apprehensive of “running the island down,” because he was invariably able to see the coast lighted up by the torches of the fishermen. The canoes will be described later on.