Nets and Ropes

NETS AND ROPES

Various forms of fishing nets were manufactured, from the hand net to the long seine called "kupenga maito," which was supported by poles at the extremities, weighted with stone sinkers on the submerged edge and floated by billets of wood on the surface (Plate XIII). Their

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light casting-nets were used with great dexterity as they waded along the beach, and when a shoal of small fish appeared, the net was thrown with the right hand. These nets were remarkably made, and in the manufacture a netting-needle of bone or wood was used, much after the fashion in more civilized countries. The coarse nets and cordage was made from the twisted bark of the hibiscus, and the fine ones from the fiber of the indigenous hemp. From the strong heavy ropes used in raising and transporting the colossal images to the light but durable fish-lines, the threads were all twisted by hand, across the knee, into even strands, which were multiplied according to the size and strength required.