The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-05
SO UIH SEA SHARK FISHING.
A:Desperate md Dangerous Calling Which
Glvea Llttle Returns.


Measured by its cost In human life, sharks
fin is the highest priced national delicacy in the
world. So great is the demand for 1t among the
well-to do Chinese. both ut home and wherever
they be throughout the world. that every year,
down among the equatorial atolis of tho Pacific,
thousands OF men risk and lose their lives in
hunting the tiger OF the sea-"
Every little while the Australian papers brief
ly note the arrival OF some island trading vessel
with a cargo of so many tons of shark Ems.
These, dried and strung together. have been
picked up among n hundred nameless tropic
islands that dot the South Pacific. and are con-
signed from Melbourne or Sydney TO the great
ports of China.
1t Is especially among the islands where ma
ture has been less lavish in her supply Of food
for the people that shark fishing has become
the great, the only industry. The sun-baked
denizeEs of the Gilbert and Marshall groups and
the countless coral islets of the western Caro-
lines have need to explore the ocean day and
night in order to live. for there such delicacies
as the mealy yam and the toothsome baked
bread fruit and the sucking pig are unknown.
There Is nothing to eat on such islands as these
such sue eS yegsIable sa as t hss' p wrsp oG &C ACKNOWLEDGEMENT sHme
plant which grows MS thick as an elephants leg.
But any time. day or night, the sea swarms
there. like no other waters of tho earth. with
sharks. After the swift tropio sunset has
plunged the world in darkness one may go out
III q anu II III ois Va lht Auu,
lighting a torch Of dried cocoanut leaves, look
downward over the boats side aad see come
judging from their actions. desperately hungry.
1t is at dawn. however. that the shark fishers
save for a girdie OF grass about their ioins. and
the canoes in which they ply their dangerous
together with cocoanut cinpet. Not one of the
pieces 10 more than two feet in length. and they
are p,eced together With marvei aouu XII 4 and
these islands. Twenty canoes generally go out
a. the same time. but they do not venture far;
in some places ninety fathoms deep.
If a jaded sportsman wants excitement, he
waters. HThs tackle is OF the rudest sort-a hugo
wooden hook. cunningly trained when 1t was q
Attached to 1t is q strong cocoanut- hbre rope
about 2iO feet In length. A piece OF flying fish
about tho HOOK. and It sinks heavily into the
water. A moment later and the line tautens-
the shark is there. The ,steersman strikes his
paddle into the water to bring the canoes head
round. the man holding the line gives IL a sudden
Jerk that nearly upsets the little craft, and 2
third native handles q shor. iron-wood club
eIpectantly.
Then comes the playing o. the desperate game
which Is death for the men to lose. Sometimes
the shark makes a desperate effort to get away
into the blue gloom a, hundred fathoms down.
watch the coiled line spin out. A sudden Jerk
may ofttimes change the sharks course before
then #, ' Se iisi SaS and e eE5ns to n'u The ! boa q b sIforoG he fna
q chance for another dive. II all goes well tho
club man seiEes his chance and gives the huge
fish a stunning blow on the head. II the sharks
tail comes within reach or the steersman'sa rm,
he stands ready with n heavy backed, keen
knife to send in a slashing blow which shall put
that end of the monster out of the game. Some
times n young Ash will have his tall shipped OF
in this way before he knows he has lost II.
While this is going on with one canoe, the
others are probably similarly engaged, and IL 10
here that most lives are lost, for with n score of
boats. each being dragged about by angry
sharks, there are sure TO be plenty OF tangled
water, a man has no time for tho briefest of
prayers to his savage gods. for In a second a
dozen sharp fms come Kissing toward him,
there is a mapping of giant jaws. and of the fish
ernan the only trace 10 n mass of bloudy foam.
But II oil goes well the shark is killed and
towed ashore and despoiled of his fins and hide.
The skins alone are sold to the white man for
by German traders. 1t Is said that some method
OF tanning this most intractable of hideS has
been discovered in Germany, but the shark
merchants of the Pacific treat this with the
same incredulity AS they do tho rumor that the
Emperor OF erman has discovered how to
cross breed sharks 30 a toothless and amiable
variety will replace the present breed.
The trader pays for sharks fins in tobacco.
calico. guns. ammunition, and sometimes in
gin. All the Gilbert Islanders are expert shark
fishermen, but the natives of Panopa Ocean
lsland) are at the head OF that profession. This
Is but II tiny spot, fifty miles south Of tho
Equator and 800 west of the Gilberts. which
rises abruptly 800 feet above the sea. The ma
tiyes are Il fierce and turbulent race OF Malaga
Polynesians. Not 30 very long ago they were,
like the sharks they caught. eaters OF men. and
with n white trader II he ventures among them
for barter unRuarleu.