The sea coast echo., 1902-11-15
FIGHTS SHARK UNDER WATER
DARING OF HAWAII's SKILLED
DIVERS BENEATH THE SEA.

Il FtOVVG, q TEt0oUCts " GACOutt0H-T
Human Flesh Cheapest Bait.
The shark now, as he has always
done, occupies an unique position in
the Hawaiian Islands. There are nu-
merous instances In which he was
treated as god, and II was supposed
that IL a mother we're to feed her in
fant to one, the chiId's soul would
enter into the animals body and the
latter would ever after prove friend
to the family. AS the Hawaiians
rarely cared In the olden times to be
bothered with raising their children.
this was convenient and comforting
belief.
Although the waters surrounding
the islands are infested with sharks,
II is rarely that native fisherman
exhibits any fear OF them, and the
| fishermen think nothing of running
the most desperate chances In attack.
ing. While the native would not con
slider for q moment the capture of his
own especial god, he has no compunc-
tlons about taking some other mans.
The natives divide the sharks fre
quenting Hawaiian waters into FIVE
species. as follows; The Mano-kanaka
imam shark is the shark god of the
ancient Hawaiians, the Mano, large
white shark. and the Niuhi. the lar
gest and flercest Of all. The last
| two are rarely seen In Hawaiian wa
ters. The Niuhi is said to be seen
a long way off st night by the bright
greenish light of It's eyeballs. It
only is much feared by the natives.
The hammer.headed and white fin
sharks are captured in gill nets,
seines or bag nets with other fishes.
The larger species are taken usually
with hook and line, as no net would be
strong enough to hold them Shark
hooks are generally made Of piece
OF hardwood carved to the proper
shape, with piece OF sharp.pointed
bone lashed to the end to form the
tip. Few of the hooks have barbs.
But frequently the fishermen take
sharks with spears. Diving to fav-
orable spot IN about five or six faith
oms of water, the fisherman places
himself In half croucldng position
against a large coral rock and waits
for the shark to appear. When one
comes he darts the spear into vital
spot. IL possible. Should he fail to
kill the fish with the spear he watches
bis opportunity and completes the
operation with his knife. fearlessly en-
gaging at close quarters. Should the
shark appear while he Is descending
once, with the chances largely in fav-
or of the shark, as the diver is un-
able to use his spear and must trust
to his knife at close quarters. AS the
native Is apparently rs much at home
below the surface as above u his won
derful skill sometimes saves him,
Frequently the natives seeks the
shark In coves and caves below the
surface after the fish has gorged itself
and sleeps with its head forced into
the sides Of its resting place. The
diver gently slips moose around the
tail and the shark is then hauled up
and dispatched. The slightest false
movement Of the diver would startle
and he would probably regret having
attacked Yet experts have been
known to capture six or eight sharks
In DAY In this manner.
In the olden times the catching OF
the Niuhi was made royal sport, but |
there has been no regular Nihui fish. |
cry for nearly one hundred years. A
large quantity Of the llvers of the |
common shark would be obtained, and
these. with little OF the flesh would
be wrapped up in the leaves of the ii |
plant and baked underground. At
times pig meat would also be used |
From fifty to hundred of the largest |
single and double canoes would be |
loaded with the baked meat and large |
quantities of the pounded roots OF the |
ava, mixed with little water and |
put In large gourds. The feet would |
sail many miles out to sea In the di- |
rection from which the Nihui was
known to appear and arriving at a |
comparatively shallow place, anchor. |
Then the baked liver and meat |
would be thrown overheard, a few |
bundles ~ time, to attract the |
sharks. After few days the grease |
and scent of the cooked meat would |
spread through the water for many |
miles In every direction. About the |
third or fourth day the Nihui would |
appear. Then bundles of the baked |
meat would be thrown out as fast as 1t |
could swallow them. After q while |
the shark would get comparatively |
tame and would come up up to one |
or the other of the canoes to be fed. |
Bundles of the liver with the pounded |
ava would then be given to 1t. and 1t |
would soon become not only satisfied, |
but also stupefied from the effects of |
the ava. That would be the end A |
moose being slipped over the sharks |
head, the feet would up anchor and |
set sail for home, the shark follow
ing willing prisoner. being fed with
more of the meat and ava from time |
to time. II would be led into shallow
water and there be stranded and kill |
ed. Every part of It's bones and skin
was supposed to confer unflinching |
bravery on the possessor, while the
actual captor, he who slipped the |
moose over the animals head, would,
also, ever after, be always victorious.
Human flesh was formerly used as
bait. The victim was cut up and left
to decompose for two or three days
In barrel or a tub. In olden times
the use of this kind of bait was In
great vogue with the kings and chiefs.
II was used because It was much
cheaper and more easily secured than
pig or shark liver was equally ac-
ceptable to the shark, and gave the
king or chief an opportunity to get
rid Of any one who was in his way or
to whom he had taken dislike. Ka.
mehameha l., the Napoleon of the
group, was great shark hunter and
kept his victims penned up near the
great heiau, or temple, of Mookini,