Native Use of Fish in Hawaii Margaret Titcomb, with the collaboration of Mary Kawena Pukui (Paperback)

Fish was a staple in the diet of the ancient Hawaiians. As master fishermen, they not only knew the habits of all varieties of fish in Hawaiian waters but also practiced conservation and fish-farming and elaborated many methods of preparing their catch. Native Use of Fish in Hawaii describes this lifestyle in which fishing was a central concern. This book contains a descriptive list of Hawaiian fishes, identified by both Hawaiian and scientific names, and is illustrated with the author’s line drawings and black-and-white reproductions of eighteen watercolors by R. C. Barnfield, a British artist who lived in Hawaii for a few years in the 1890s. Also included are many of the old myths and legends associated with fishing and with the fish gods of the Hawaiian pantheon. Originally published as a supplement to the Journal of the Polynesian Society, this work was compiled by the author with the help of Mary Kawena Pukui, translator of Hawaiian manuscripts and records for the Bishop Museum and coauthor of the Hawaiian Dictionary. Written primarily for the layman, this book with its wealth of ethnographic information will also be valuable to those studying the cultures of Oceanic peoples. MARGARET TITCOMB, senior librarian of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu, has been a student of Pacific islands cultures for many years. Her projects include a comprehensive study of the foods of the ancient Hawaiians and wildlife conservation in Hawaii. UH Press, 1972 Paperback, 188 pages