Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-03-13
SHARK GODS IN HAWAII.
Some Very Interesting Superstitions
of Native Fishermen.

United states. IHe~ldleSt published
report of Fish Commissioner Bowers
shows that the ''reptilian product" of
the Illinois river is extensive; more
than a half-million pounds of swapping
turtle and terrapin, valued at $11,9lv,
We're taken there in 1899, besides more
than thirteen tons of frogs, valued at
S3224. Philadelphia is the principal
market for turtles and terrapin. Many
more are caught than find mention in
the record as fishermen often do not
save their catch on account of the low
prices paid for small quantities turned
in as by-products of a days work.
Snappers sometimes congregate in
holes, and long iron rods, with hooks
on the end, are used to pull them out.
A good many are picked up by hand
in the spring. Snappers are usually
sold by weight and terrapin by the
dozen. One shipper Keeps his in
pounds till he has got enough together
for forwarding to market; he feeds the
snappers on live fish and the terrapin
on watermelons, which they eat read
lily, rind and all.
In frog fishing, which is rather ir-
regular industry, rifles are largely
| used, though poles with hooks sus-
pended from them, ~and innprovised
spears, are among the other imple-
ments employed. The frogs are pre-
pared for market by simply removing
their heads, skins and viscera.
The great resort for frogs, however,
is the lake region of Minnesota; in
deed, there they constitute the most
valuable single product, the catch of
| 1899 being nearly one-fourth of the
entire fishery yield of the State, meas
| ured by its cash returns. The species
| taken is the meadow frog" of which
the average weight is only between one
and two ounces. The principal device
for catching this frog is a pit about
three feet long, two feet wide and two
feet deep, dug between a slough and
the neighboring high grass; the most
active season is the fall, when the
frogs are returning to the water Frogs
! that are to be kept alive for market
are put into gunny sacks and left in
running water, covered with hay or
straw to keep out the frost. Profess
sional frog catchers are said to make
from So to SO a day during the best
! of the season, and most of the catch
is shipped directly to Chicago. The
| Minnesota frog industry began about
1895, and has steadily grown in i'm
iportance.
Frogs had to be introduced artific-
iaiiy into Hawaii. The first plant APP
pears to have occurred prior TO 1867,
and some came in as curiosities in 1869.
but no systematic attempt was made
to supply the islands with them till
| 1899, when six dozen We're brought
from California. They and their pro-
@eny are said to have proved of great
| value in reducing the sickness among
native cattle by keeping stagnant
| pools clean and eating the fluke, a
| %orm which infests the grass and
Slime around them. The fluke, if
| sWalloWe4E by cattle Or sheep, works
| It's way into the liver and often causes
! death. The market for frogs as a del
| icaCy for the table is not large yet in
| Hawaii but is expected to prove re-
mTnerative in a few years.
| 1t appears from the same report that
We have annexed, with the Hawaiian
| Islands. n rather interesting group of
! tishermen's superstitions. The most
! notable of these is shark worship On
| Alolokai, whore a shark named Moaalii
| was revered as the great marine god.
many temples were built on promon-
| tories for his homage. This was be-
fore 1919, when public idolatry was
| abolished by law. To Moaalii the
first fruits of every fsherman's labors
| were dedicated. When special victims
were required, or the god was sup
posed to be hungry, the priests would
sally forth and ensnare with Il rope
anyone they could catch. strangle him.
cut him in pieces, and throw these to
the shark. When more convenient, the
/, priests would use another and very
| cheerful method of capturing their vic
| Tins; they would lie in ambush and
utter piteous cries like person in dis
tress, and sympathetic natives who
went to the assistance of the sufferer
| would he seized and sacrificed.
| The shark had n high place in the myth
ology of the other islands. also; indeed it
was customary for each island to have one
| shark divinity among its other objects of
worship. and to assume that the homage
paid 10 this animal purchased its protec-
ton. each shark god had its own keeper,
who was responsible for its welfare, and
whose office was inherited and handed
down in his family. The relation between
| 'liS 'li'tl n stiit ltS hcCitI WIS supposed 10
| he very intimate and confidential: the
shark would accept the pleasure of the
| Keepers carcSSeS when it came to him for
some dainty tid-bit. and in return Tor his
| devotion it would respond to his call in
| time Of trouble. One tradition describes
| the adventure of kaluahinenui. a female
| Keeper. who was one of the company Voy-
aging in a schooner when it was wrecked
| IN dangerous channel. Kaluahnenui in
| her extremity called upon her shark god
! to come 10 her rescue. the animal respond
| cd promptly, and carried her on his back
| to a neighboring island in safety.
| Some ot the shark gods appear to have
| been. in the day of their general dominion
monsters in size The largest on record
| was kuhaimOana, whose mouth was as
| large as an ordinary Hawaiian grass
| house, and capable of taking i'll two or
| three common sharks with ease. Most Of
| the channels around the islands Ot Maui
ana oahu were too shallow for his huge
| bulk, and he sometimes got around. Next
! in size was kamohoalii who was so terri
| bile in his majesty that even the smoke
| from Alauna Ioa never dared blow over
into his halliwick. He used to assume hui
man torn. when he felt like it. and walk
about among men, and Il favorite home
of his was in the highest cone of an eX-
tinct volcano.
The idea of sharks assuming human
shape is intertwined with the tradition of
their human parentage. Not few We're
recognized as transformed men and We
men one story. which contains all the