The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-11-04
A WRITING SEA MYSTERY.

Worms That Are Well Up in the Sci
 ence of Astronomy-Once a Year, at
 an Exact Time, the Pablo Appears
 at Certain Coral Reefs in the South
 Pacific, the Islanders Gorge Them
 selves and Then the Creatures Van
 ish.
 The pablo is writhing worm of the South Sea and mystery. Considered merely as worm, it is a chain of seg- ments, twenty to the inch, as large as a strong pack thread and anywhere from few inches to yard long, fragile in the water and out and apt to break apart at any or all of the joints. Some arc reddish brown and these are the males; the females are of various shades of green. If this were all, the worm would not merit consideration except by those whose chosen pursuit 1t is to investigate the doings of crawl ing things
 But somewhere in these segments is a most elaborate astronomical appara- tus. Somehow, by means which baf- fle the keenest research, this humble worm of the coral reef knows how to keep account of the flight of time and to make it's annual appearance prompt ly to the minute when due, to reckon the year by successive lunations and to intercalate the proper correction to bring the lunar year into accord with the sidereal year, That is remarkable thing. Mankind in all it's wisdom had to study for ages before it learned to correct it's lunar year to keep it in har- mony with it's solar year to correct it's solar year to agree with the sidereal year, and even now some of the nations of Europe are nearly two weeks out of the way. Through some strange sci ence this obscure worm knows all about the calendar and makes it's brief ap- pearance on few Polynesian reefs with absolute regularity. Such is it's accuracy that the Samoans use it as the starting point of one of their six month years, From it's coming the first year is dated and named Vaipalo'o, just IS the second year of six moHths is named Vaito'elau. One of the pablo year, the other the trade-wind var, for with the coming of the pablo it is time to look out for the cessation of the benefcent trade wind and the coming of calms and gales from the north and months of incessant rain.
 To mark the year is not the only use to which the Samoans have put the worm In addition it is considered a most delicious article of food, and once a year the islanders make long jour- neys to be on hand when the pablo floats on the surface of the sea for brief two hours in the earliest morning. It is not every reef that has pablo. The worm is found only in the three mid-Pacifc archipela goes, Samoa, Ton ga and Fiji, and in each archipelago it is found only at a few particular spots. At Apia there Is a half mile of reef at Matautu Point where the worm is found, and the next place is no nearer than Falelatai, clear around the vest ern point of Upo1u. As the worm will not bear transportation it is necessary to go to the spot where it is found or else do without it. Somoans like it so well that they will scarcely consent to miss it's annual appearance and the joyous gorging which follows an abun- dant catch.
 There is only one day in the whole year when pablo is to be found. All the other days of the year the worm is absent from the lagoon waters Where it lives and how is entirely unknown. It is supposed that it is hidden in the corals far below the surface and there undergoes the transform tons of it's life, but no one knows for certain Co., rals have been dredged up from vary ing depths but no pablo have been found. All that is certainly known is that on fixed day they will make a startingly sudden appearance and within two hours will vanish just as suddenly and go no one knows whither. It is possible to compute the exact pa lolo day. The old Samoans are very wise and accurate in this computation. It is a very hard reckoning to follow, and it used to be harder than it Is now, for formerly they had no conveniences of a calendar by which to keep the ac- count There are certain things which the flowers tell them in this computa- tion: the blossoming of certain fra grant trees gives the first warning that pablo time is close at hand. After the trees have lowered out the first warn ing, then must the conste'la tions be studied; the setting of the belt of Ori on, low in the northern sky; of other constelIations known as the Duck and the Man--these are the second warn- ing and indicate that the time is close at hand. Then the moon presents an- other factor and one which decides whether to count from the last pa 'olo three hundred and fffty-fve or three hundr-d and eirhty-faur days. The old men know how to do all this and without mistake; indeed. Samoans make precious few mistakes as to any thing which involves a matter of some thing to eat Under the calendar in- troduced by the white people the pro- blem is simplified Pablo time is at dead low water in the night of the third quarter of the moon which comes at the end of October or the beginning of No- vemher.
 For weeks the old men of the Sa- moan towns study all the signs: they have pointed out the blossomines and the cancellations; they have worked over all their computations until they are certain of the result. Then they give word that in so many nights more the pablo will come. Thereupon the head of every house ties up so many pebbles in a sack and takes one out each night to be certain of the time. Tine women make ready the nets for the great fshlng-pieces of mosquito netting mounted as very shallow caoly between the forks of a short stick