The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1888-12-29
BESET By PIRATES.

~ man tftu DI!BH anu SCnO Jncr
which voyage among the islands of tn,
Indian Ocean. and traffic for pepper
spices, cinnamon. beeswaX, figs, rar,
woods, medicinal roots and herbs. etc
Tn one occasion-tLis was twenty year,
ago-thls company received an ordeI
from sydney, Australia, for a grea
quantity of sharks brains. 1t seemed
that some eminent quack doctor in the
colony had made the discovery thai
SHARKS brains was the great panacea tho
medical world had been looking for "a
cure AZ! diseases. They were drie and
then pnlverized and mixed with certain
root, and, as silly as it may look to
/ you, the people went Wild over the new
cure. / presume that the auack had
corner on the root part OF the cure.
out ne could not corner the other Dor
ton. Sharks are plentiful all about
australia, but they could not be caught
last enough to supply the demand. The
prlce during the height of the excitement
/ was ~ an ounce for the dried brains.
and 81 an ounce for the mixture. TIE
| craze lasted about , months. bv which
time the swindler had made his bile and
was ready TO skip. Then evervbody
rldiculed everybody else, and the price
OF sharks brains dropped to 20 cents
per pound, at which figure the Chinese
used them for banquet dish.
When the order was received at Sinoa.
pore | was mate of a small schooner
called the Little Duke, and il was plan-
NED that l should be set ashore Oh some
OF me Islands TO the north of Australia
to MI 1t. ! had voyaged from Singapore
10 IorreSl Strait several times. and after
a little talk ! selected South Aroo Island
as the most convenient place for carry
ing out the purpose. There are seven
OF these islands in a group oil the New
Guinea coast. While the water from
the Straits of Malacca to those of Torres
are really the Indian Ocean. they are
iaid down on maps and chats as differ
emf seas Java, Flores. Banda. and Ara.
lura We had once been cast away on
the coast OF South Aroo. and had found
me waters almost alive with sharks. We
knew II TO be un;nhabited, and about
twenty miles long by ten broad.
our OUTFIT was very simple. was to
nave couple OF men with me, and we
took a tent lot of shark lines, couple
OF lanceS, and bedding and provisions.
For firearms we had revolvers, and dou-
Die barIeled shotguns. and after long
ana tedious voyage, during which we
called at several sands, we finally cast
anchor oil South Aroo, and were safely
landed on sandy beach. The schooner
was In haste to get away, and two hours
after landing us she was out of sight.
We were to be left on the island from
fourteen to twenty days Near where we
landed was what sailors call rip. that
Is, narrow channel between the main
land and sand bar. This channel was
about sixty feet wide, fifteen or twenty
deep. and open at both ends. The sand
bar was not over four feet above high
tide, half mile long. and not so much
a. spear of grass grew upon it. We
didn't have to look twice to see that this
rip was our sharking ground. A dozen
dorsal fins could be seen cutting the wa
ter, and piece OF salt pork flung out
resulted IN fight, in which score of
the monsters participated. We erected
our tent in the edge of The forest. set up
our windlass above high water. and next
morning after landing were all ready to
begin work. Cur method Of preceding
was very simple. Our windlass was a
roller, provided with handle on either
end and resting in crotchetS. One end
oil the shark lire was made fast to this
and the hook at the other was bated and
flung out. When shark was fast we
brought him in by turning the windlass.
While the two men turned / stood at the
edge Of the water with a lance and
Jabbed him as he got near enough. -
There may be spots where the shark
IS more numerous than off the New
Guinea coast, but doubt it. There
was no waiting about the business of
catching them. No sooner was the
baited hook thrown in than a shark
seized it and was fast. They were not
ground sharks, nor shovel noses, but the
genuine man-eater, ranging from nine to
fifteen feet in length, aud terribly strong
and fierce. An ordinary man would be
snapped in two by one Of these fishes as
easily as boy bites into a cracker. We
had to secure the brains and spread them
in the sun to dry, and this made it slow
work. Our catch the first day was
seventeen. We increased this to twenty
on the second day, and for four days
maintained that figure. On the after
noon of the fourth day sad calamity
occurred. The spring at which we got
our water was about four hundred feet
inland, and we had cut path to it.
We had seen few snakes, but they
seemed DESTROYS of avoiding us as much
as possible, and none of us were alarmed
about them. On this afternoon, as one
of my helpers went after water, he was
struck by snake lying in the tangle
and although he was back within five
minutes, could tell by his looks that
nc had received a deadly bite. In ten
minutes he WAS rnllinn ON the nrnnnd In