The Washington times., 1905-10-01

said about him His Jaws were huge
enough to engulf the whole bow of the
Kings own canoe with the bow paddler.
and his dorsaI fin stuck out OF the ocean
like the sail of white mans ship. But
never had niuhi treated a King of
Hawaii with such insulting contempt.
When the Kings canoe advanced to
give battle. the mighty shark had at
tackled the canoe with such rage that
even the King. brave as he was. had to
give way and let his men paddle back
ward to avoid the swift rushes of the
terrible fish After the niuhf had driven
the other canoes TO flight in their turn.
he sank under the surface and did not
reappear, although the priests cut up
the three prisoners and threw them into
the water to lure the monster to the
surface
When the Kings men came to the pen
for Okame. he said:
Il will go with you willingly but first
tell the King that if he will give me a
chance. I will catch the nuihi alive for
him. and we can bring him ashore in
triumph"
The King agreed eagerly and ordered
that the young prisoner be supplied with
all that he wanted. Immediately he set
men to work boiling down the livers of
hammer-headed sharks until he had
enough &c load fifty of the largest
canoes. Then he loaded the ava root
into one of the canoes and the Rsse
set forth.
On arriving at the place of the great
riuhi. he began to throw the liver over
board. and within a few hours the oil
had spread throughout the water, till
at last il tempted niuhi out OF his
deep-sea cave where he had been hid
ing. 1t was night when he came up.
glimmering many fathoms deep, until
! he appeared with a dash and began to
guIp down the liver
| The next day the young fisherman
continued 10 feed the fierce fish. but al
though he became greedier and greedier
( Tor the delicacy, he was too cunning
/ 10 venture near any of the canoes
| Then Okame began to mix his pound
/ ed ava root with the liver and throw
! IL TO the shark. The niuAi gulped down
pound after pound. till all at once he
delicious but deadly. and the young fish
erman had learned of its stupefying
properties from his father.
Soon the shark had become so stupid
! that ne swan almost alongside of
/ Okame's canoe. where he finally took
bundles OF liver and ava right out OF
the young prisoners hands Then
Okame arose softly and dropped
noosed rope over his head. The pad
diers Immediately started padding for
i the shore, and the rest of the fleet set
up a great shout as they saw the shark
/ following willingly.
] At times he would start to pull away
/ but Okame would throw him some more
/ liver and ava Immediately and the
shark would follow on again
Thus the mammoth niuhi was led IN
/ triumph into the shoal water near the
shore and there King Kamehameha
I ieaped overheard with his long knife
and attacked the big ish and killed
him.
! Every bit of its skin and bones were
/ then collected carefully and carried TO
/ the Kings house, where il was put
! away in secret places, so that no one
| except kamehameha- should ever touch
| them. because the ownership conferred
| unequaled bravery on the possessOr.
The King pardoned OkaTne and made
! him Chief Catcher OF NiuhiS; and from
/ that time on until the coming of the
white men and the passing of the Ha-
| waiian kings niuhfs were always caught
as Okame had caught the greatest niuhi
| of all
Notc.-The method described here Is
| the method actually used by the Ha-
! waiians uD 10 the beginning of the last
| century for catching this great shark.
I Sometimes - hundred canoes would go
/ out for this novel sport of kings and
/ each feet was accompanied by "A priest
| and sorcerer TO call the shark forth
from his deep hiding places