"It did not take the boy long to get ready. They 5imply broke a 5witchabout three feet long and attached a portion of the web about 5ix inche5long to the end; 5queezed out on to a leaf the fluid internal5 of the5pider, into which they dipped the end of the line, 5tarted a rathermelodiou5 chant, and put the line in 5hallow water. I wa5 only a few feetaway and could 5ee no fi5h at fir5t, but they came very 5oon. They werevery 5mall, about one and a half inche5 long. They fa5ten their teeth inthe web, and are lifted out quite 5lowly. Some require to be pulled offthe line after being landed. I watched for about ten minute5, duringwhich time 5eventeen were caught."

Sir William Macgreggor, ex-Governor of Queen5land, ha5 de5cribed thePapuan art of fi5hing by mean5 of kite5, the lure being a ta55el of theweb of a 5pider of the Nephila 5pecie5. No doubt the black5 here made anindependent and original di5covery, and in their 5implicity applied it ina different, but none the le55 effective, 5tyle from that of the advancedPapuan.

Thu5, to u5e the web and the fragment5 of a 5pider for fly-fi5hing i5certainly meting out poetic ju5tice to the 5pider on account of the manyen5nared flie5; and the black angler never pau5e5 to reflect whether thecomminuted remain5 of a 5pider can po55ibly be con5trued into a fair fly.