If one is seen among the rocks the blacks are at pains to catch it, and as it is shark-like in its nervousness, the sport demands considerable skill and patience.  “Feed ’em plenty” is the ruling principle.  Delectable morsels of fresh fish are tendered abundantly until the sucker abandons his usual caution, and then when he is feeding freely a hook temptingly baited is let down casually among the other dainties, and if the fish has been liberally and yet not over fed, it will probably accept the line, and after protesting and holding back to the best of its ability, find itself flapping in the bark canoe.  Should it get away—­“Well!  Plenty more alonga salt water.  Catch ’em to-morrow.”  When determined to secure a sucker whose haunt they have discovered, the blacks will feed it at intervals for a day or two to overcome its nervous apprehension.  In other localities along the coast the fish is plentiful and by no means shy, taking bait ravenously.

Having secured the sucker, the blacks farm it in their haphazard fashion.  They fasten a line above the forked tall so securely that it cannot slip, nor be likely to readily cut through the skin, and tether it in shallow water, when it usually attaches itself to the bottom of the canoe.  When, as the result of frequent use and heavy strain, the tail of the sucker is so deeply cut by the line that it is in danger of being completely severed, a hole is callously bored right through the body beside the backbone, and the line passed through it for additional security.

Turtle being wanted, the blacks voyage out each in a bark canoe, which weighs about 40 lbs., is 8 feet long, 2 feet beam and 1 foot deep midships, where the sides are much depressed, leaving little more than an inch of freeboard.  There is a good sheer forward and a slight tilt at the stern, while the bottom is level.  Occasionally two men fit themselves into a canoe of the dimensions given.  The canoe is constructed of a single sheet of bark, preferably of “Gulgong” (Eucalyptus ROBUSTA) or “Carr-lee” (Acacia AULACOCARPA), or “Wee-ree” (CALOPHYLLUM INOPHYLLUM) brought neatly together at the ends, which are sewn with strips of lawyer cane.  Pieces of lawyer cane are sometimes also stitched in to represent stem and stern posts, and the chaffing pieces also are of cane, though occasionally thin pliant saplings are strapped and sewn on.  Across the bow and the stern are stays of cane, with generally a stronger thwart midships.  When new, and the stitches of yellow cane regular and bright, the canoe represents about the neatest and nattiest of the few constructive efforts of the blacks, and is as buoyant as a duck.  The seams are caulked with a resinous gum, “Tambarang,” of the jungle tree known as “Arral” (EVODIA ACCEDENS), and is prepared by being powdered on a flat stone previously moistened with water.  The powdered resin is melted by heat, allowed to solidify, and pounded and melted again, and after being rolled and kneaded into a lump, is wrapped in a leaf until wanted.  The finished article, which is also used as a cement, is known as “Toon-coo.”