The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-26

he got the net underneath the little Hnny chap
nsa r STSSSSh tn slm to SP' out ho Of a' thc nS TatSr sS Sef orc
there was a swish that sounded like a skyrocket
just, starting out on its journey r and then d y. t h1,e
and evil.looKing q manenter as any. of us on
that ship ever saw popped out of the, water
1 rna m nnasT q %aab fSS b %' ios ss t ana 20 he S% %ss : i Gn tSc
right turncd-ovcr position to have gotten them.
too, II he hadn't fallen Just q shade short in his
hprised looking man, and tho rapidity with which
ho dropped tho net, In which the pilot fsh was
still struggling, and clainbcred aboard the ship
for the net we saw II floating ON tho surface of
tho water, but the pilot fish was no longer In its
maneater cutting through the water n hun
dred yards or so astern of tho ship we had q
pretty firm CONVICTION that that shSrk,s pilot
1.-THE Kanakas Of Honolulu do not appear to
be the least bit. afraid OF moncnters; and they
with nothing but a long knife Tor n weapon. I
was attached to n gunboat anchored IN Homo
lulu. harhor n couple OF years ago. We were
rho fSe'i isEfas sdd.p' PESeN bie coal liSS;ersss holding. a a
hundred tons or so Of coal, we're loaded at The
The coal was hoisted into tho bnnkors from the
lighters by the mon forward. We'll. one OF tho
lighters was overloaded at the dock, and when
II was brought alongside the ship ready to be
made fast, 1t began to settle, turned over and
sank In twenty feet OF crystal-clear water. tax.
lnR uUOuI 10 IOnb VI lump bltNlillilE YUM hlOiH
with 1t. or course, the coal didn't belong to
the ship until It was aboard the ship, in accord.
ance with the terms OF The contract, and so ths
and bring as many OF the big humps to the sur.
anchored beside the ship to receive tho coal thus
regained from the bottom. The, kanakas did
the work without any sort Of diving apparatus,
pended from strings around their necks each
had a long, sharp knife for sharks. They'd
give a couple of twists to their legs and after a
minute or so they'd reappcar at the surface OF
the water with a hunk of roal in their arms;
Then they would, heay,e the lunp into the hold
"A group Of officers were standing at the
gangway watching tho men prepare to &c to
work one morning after the conl raising had
been going on for a couple Of days, when we
noticed that, there seemed med to be q CONJUNCTION o. 1HlU, i
citedly IN their queer, musical language and to
feel of the sharpness Of the knives hanging
than ours. and they had seen u maneater asleep
directly beneath the lighter. Three of tho
kanakas,, magnificent; giant.mnscled men, the
knives. grasped the knives in their right hands,
stepped over the side Of the lighter. hung to the
Runwalc with their left hands for II second or two
and then. all, together, they gave that queer
SbdSt 9,vt to sc thSIS l SIs b %nd diTSS gpSn re- come M
TO the surface of the water. and about five see
onds later the bubbles took on the hue of blood
THAT settles one Kanakn, If not the whole
] lnTct VI lneln, Sulu We On lIt RtnEWul. bu|
the Kanakas in the lighter only smiled. The
next thing we saw was n gigantic shark thrash
ing the water crafty on the, port sidc. OF thu
lighter. and incarnadining the soa within q
radius of iifty feet with its blood. Then thu
three Kanakas came up, all in n bunch, like
trio Of iacks-in the box, with contcnted smile
on their bland faces. The shark thrashet
around without any eyes for five minutes or so
and at the end Of that time he was rs dead as
sailed mackerel, the whole eighteen feet .
him.. The three kanakas had tackled him al
t%oxether. as he slept. had driven their kniyc
into his vulnerable parts, and before the man
eater Ind a show TO pull himself together he wa
ns good as dead.
Fort twenty years or so I ridiculcd the sail
orS' idea that sharks follow a ship on which
death is impending. We had "A boy die of Asia,
ic cholera aboard our ship while we were /
Honolulu harbor two years ago last August
He. died in less than ten hours after he wa
stricken. At dawno of the morning he died the Sc
for a hundred yards around the ship was litcra'
ly crowded with sharks. and we killed many Q
them from the poop with rifles, hitting som
Of them half II dozen times. There had bee
only occasional sharks around the ship hefor
that. The incident convinced the men that,
sharks didn't know when a death impcndcd o
n ship. they had a way of finding out about
after the death occurred