They Come Down in Thousands

Te Ao Hou, June 1965, Page 37

They Come Down in Thousands When the run of eels begins, they come down in thousands—one wonders where they all come from. They pass through the channel as thick as the channel can hold them. When they reach the sand bar at the entrance of the lake they fan out on both sides, for they cannot go back the way they have come. In this manner the eels are pushed into the tawiri, and they end up trapped inside the hinaki. The baskets are set just before sunset, and are taken out in the early hours of the morning. When the big hinakis are full of eels they hold about five sacksful; ropes are placed beneath them and brought back over the top, and the hinakis are then rolled ashore by hauling on the top end of the rope. A good catch should fill between forty and sixty large sacks. Another method of catching these tunas is to dig a large pit in the sand, about 10 yards from the end of the lake. A ditch is then dug from the lake to the pit, and as soon as the water starts to run into it, the eels swim into the pit. When the pit is full of eels the far end of the ditch is closed up, and the eels are left high and dry. This method should produce four or five sacks of eels every time the pit is opened. It is especially effective when a good