Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-07-15
a Huar rreKn OF THE sra.
How the Sandwich Islanders Take the
Man-Eatipg Shark.

A HUGE TIGER OF TIE SEA-
How the Sandwich Islanders Take the
Man-Eatipg shark.
The doctor aud / we're enjoying q much
needed rest in q little cottage at Waikiki,
Honolulu's ideal watering place, says a
writer in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Strellipg along the beacon n day we
came across a group OF native fianermen
repairing q ssffnn-colored net, U iees
long, perhaps, and ten feet wide.
After asking q few questions OF the ma
tiyes the doctor told me that they were
going off to try to capture one OF the nuge
sharks known as "niuhi," or man-eaters,
and that they had offered to q cs II we
promised 10 still in the canoes.
Everything being in readiness, " Or
three Of the lighter canoes were iauncnec,
and their occupants padded ou TO sea 10
discover some signs of the wished-for-
man. eater, while we were directed to be
ready to embark at any time, 1t came
it took ne but q few moments to reach our
canoe and jump in.
Though 1t did not take MS long to reach
the spot where the man-eater was known
to be, vet night had fallen and 1t was by
the light Of torches made Of the baked
kernels of the candle nut strung upon
coca-leaf fibre that we drew near the
fleet. By the smoky, red light OF
the torches we could see men busily
scattering about the baked meat they had
brought, and also half chewed morsels OF
the W root. As they did 80 there was
the CLEAN of the fins and tails of hundreds
of fish darting to and fro for food. Now
and then a larger one than the rest, with
side, glowing with phosphorescent light,
would dart among the smaller fry, scatter
ing them right and left.
"They are the 'manap kanaks. whis-
pered the doctor, ''the shark God OF the
old Hawaiians. And, there! there!" he
sdded quickly, as a massive bulk rose from
the depths below, there is the 'mano
keokeo,' the great white shark"
Just then the old fisherman stationed
near us suddenly crouched down, and,
touching the doctor with one lean, brown
hand, pointed to the water near the stern
of the canoe next to us. We there saw,
cleaning in the opalescent depths. two
bright spots that shone with a malignant,
greenish light. They were set in a mon
strous, shadowy head; beyond which we
could see q huge brown body.
1t was the niuhi, the fiercesto of his tribe,
and as he moved along the crowd of fish
darted away in terror. Even the great
white shark sullenly gave away to this
tiger of the sea, who swan slowly about,
swallowing the food the fishermen kept
throwing to him. As he thus moved
from place to place his whole
body seemed to exhale a peculiar light that
streamed from the tips Of his fins and long,
uneyenly lobed tail. By the CLEAN of this
peculiar phosphorescence bis motion could
be closely watched, aud finally the expert
enced fisherman saw that he was becoming
gorged. So intently bad We been watch.
ing his movements that we had not noticed
that while he was being fed the feet Of
canoes had been silently moved in nearer
the shore. Our progress had been very
slow, and now for awhile the canoes halted,
while lowering beneath them was the man.
eater, evidently somewhat Supplied by the
ava he had swallowed with the food so
freely given him.
And then commenced q curious exhibit
ton of skill aud daring. A moose had
been made in the end of a long, strong
rope, and this was taken by an expert
enced old fisherman, who quietly slid
overheard from his canoe and allowed him.
self to sink to where the man-eater was
resting, his body enveloped in that strange,
rro:rl I.-hk Thiu ~od tim pnnnnont Uhan
if the shark had been shamming sleep, he
would, with one vigorous sweep of his tail
and a snap Of his jaws, have earned his
name of ''man-eater."
But no; he was, for the time being,
powerless, and with infinite dexterity and
skill the native succeeded in passing the
moose over the brute's head and about his
middle. He then quickly rose to the sur
face and clambered into his canoe, and the
fsstNe6 f6eeiqq rd ssss 5 iSu pq9Ss tic sua The c S5Ss
was attached moved very slowly and care
fully, Just enough strain being kept on the
line to raise the captive's body clear Of the
bottom. Sometimes the shark would be o
little FESTIVE, and then we all waited
until" as the doctor said, she rolled
OVER uUu Wcut W oiCcp dSolh.
At length we were close to the beach,
and all but two canoes were drawn up on
the sands to wait for daylight. The two
remaining ones lay over the sleeping niuhi,
the end of the line to which he was secured
being taken on the beach, and then all
hands took turns in watching and sleep
ing. The Job might have been completed
then, but this the Kahuna forbade.
"We have the right to snare the man
eater in the night while he is drunk" he
said, 'but we must wait tor daylight, when
he is sober, before we kill him."
BY daylight q crowd of people had as
sembled on the beach, and the signal was
given from the canoes that the niuhi was
awake and getting FESTIVE. So the long
line was seized by q hundred hands; it
Strengthened out, and then, amid the
triumphant song of the Kahuna and the
yells and laughter of the crowd tramping
away with the rope, the enraged man.
eater, thrashing aud plunging about, was
drawn out of the water and over the vel.
low sands. As his. huge body plunged
hither and thither he snapped savagely at
everything, but in vain. A crowd of the
fishermen were always about him, raining
q shower of blows on his ugly head, until
he lay, beaten to death, on the shore.
Great were the rejoicings over the sue
cess of this hunt for the niuhi. Every por-
ton of the body (which was over eighteen
feet in length was eaten-the bones and
skin especially are supposed to endow the
eater with high courage and great strength.
As for the one who slipped the moose over
the head of the m~an-eater, he was given an