The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1901-07-12
verified. A tanifa ten feet long, Hapai


assured me, was an enormously bulky
and powerful creature, with jaws and
teeth much larger than an ocean
haunting shark of double that length;
and it's width across the shoulders
was very great. Although it gener-
ally swan slowly, it would, when it
had once sighted it's prey, dart along
the water with great rapidity, with
out causing ripple. At village in
Savaii, powerfully-built woman,
who was incautiously bathing at the
mouth of stream, was suddenly
swept away by one of these sharks
almost before she could utter cry,
so swiftly and suddenly was she
seized. Several attempts were made
to capture the brute, which continued
to haunt the scene of the tragedy for
several days; but it was too cunning
to take hook, and was never caught.
The tanifa which had been seen by
the young Manono chief and his men
the preceding evening had made its
appearance soon after darkness had
fallen, and had cruised to and fro
across the mouth of the Vaivasa till
the tide began to fall, when it made
it's way seward through passage in
the reef. 1t was, so Lilo assured me,
quite eight feet in length and very
wide across the head and shoulders.
The water was clear, and by the
bright starlight they could discern
it's movements very easily; once it
sn&o 6a u
stationary for some minutes, lying
under about two feet of water. Some
of the Manono men, hailing a picket
of the enemy on the opposite bank OF
the river, asked for ten minutes
truce to try and shoot it. This was
granted; and, standing on the top of
the sandy trench, half a dozen young
fellows fired a volley at the shark
from their Sniders. None of the bull
lets took effect, and the tanifa sailed
slowly off again, to cruise to and fro
for another hour, watching for any
hapless person who might cross the
river.
Just as the kava was being handed
round, some children who were on
watch cried out that the tanifa had
come. Springing to his feet, Lilo
again hailed the enemy's picket on
the other side, and a truce was agreed
to, so that 'the white men could have
look at the malie' (sharlk).
Thirty or 40 yards away was what
seemed to be huge, irregular, waver-
ing mass of phosphorus, which as it
drew nearer revealed the outlines of the
dreaded fish. 1t came in straight for
the mouth of the creek, passed over
the pebbly bar, and then swan leis-
urely about in the bracllish water,
moving from bank to bank less than
dozen feet from the shore. The
stream of bright, phosphorescent
light which had surrounded it's body
when it first appeared had now, ow-
ing to there being but minor degree
of phosphorus in the braclkish water,
given place to a dull, sickly-greenish
reflection, accentuated, however, by
thin, vivid streaks caused by the exu-
dation from the nostrils and gills of
viscid matter common to some
species of sharks, and giving it truly
terrifying appearance. Presently a
couple of men, taking careful aim,
fired at the creatures head; in an in
slant it darted off with extraordinary
velocity, rushing through the water
like submerged comet, if may use
the illustration. Both of the men
who had fired were confident their
bullets had struck and badly wound
ed the shark, but were greatly dis
it again appeared, swimming leisure
ly about at 80 yards from the beach.
Three days later, as we were re-
turning to Apia, we were told by our
native friends that the shark still
haunted the mouth of the Vaivasa,
sent Alan on board the cutter for our
one shark-hook-a hook which had
done much execution among the sea-
providers. Although not of the larg-
est size, being only ten inches in the
shank, it was made of splendid steel,
and we had frequently caught 15-foot
sharks with it at sea. 1t was cher
ished possession with us, and we al
ways kept it and the four feet of
chain attached to it bright and clean.
In the evening Alan returned, &C
companied by the local pilot Capt.
Hamilton) and the master of Ger
man bark. They wanted ''to see the
fun" We soon had everything in
readiness. The hool-baited with the
belly portion of freshly-killed pig,
which the Manono people had COM
Wandered from bush village-was
buoyed to piece of light qua wood
to keep it from sinking; and then,
with 20 fathoms of brand-new whale
line attached, we let it drift out into
the center of the passage. Making
our end of the line fast to the trunk
of a cocoanut tree, we set some chill
dren to watch, and went into the
trenches to drink some kava, smoke
and gossip. We had not long to wait
barely half an hour-when we heard
warning yell from the watchers.
The tanifa was in sight! Jumping
up, and tumbling over each other in
our eagerness, we rushed out. Alas!
we were too late; for the shark, in
stead of approaching in its usual leis-
turely manner, made straight dart
at the bait, and before we could free