Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-07-24
TALES OF ENORMOUS SHARKS.
Hated, Worshipped, Useful Scavensers
of the Sea.

zens of the water" said the natural
history collector, lis the shark. 1t Is
found in all seas and occupies prom
inent place in the mythology, folk
lore, religion and domestic economy
of all countries bordering on salt wa
ter.
"The shark is undoubtedly a dog
with bad name, but it really does not
deserve half the bad things said Of It..
While an unmitigated nuisance and
expense in many ways, especially to
fishermen, yet it subserves a most
necessary purpose, namely, that of
scavenger of the seas.
Like the goat and ostrich on land.
the shark will swallow almost any
thing that comes it's way, be 1t man,
a horse, feathered fowls, bottles, tin
cans, rope or pieces Of wood. The
species known as man eaters have been
known to attack human beings, but
they rarely do so unless driven to 1t
by extreme hunger, or II the person
be floating on the surface or slowly
swimming along. A vigorous move
ment on the part of swimmer Is very
apt to scare away any shark.
1.-THE shark family comprises many
members, there being sixty-two dis
tinct species in North American wa
ters alone. Many of these bear pecu-
liar common names, as: Frilled, COW,
dog, bullhead, cat, nurse, requiem,
hammer headed, thresher, backing,
man eater, mackerel, bramble and
angel While many are comparative
ly small, others attain a great size.
"A man eater was captured in Mon
terey Bay, Cal, a few years ago which
measured thirty-two feet in length.
Another caught near Sequel, Cal, was
about thirty feet long and had young
sea lion weighing about 100 pounds
in it's stomach.
"In 1904 an Italian fisherman
caught a shark twenty feet long and
weighing $500 pounds in a net In
San Francisco Bay. In its stomach
were six large porpoise which the an
imal had swallowed whole.
81 helped to open one in the Hon
olulu fish market few years ago, and
found in it's stomach the body of a
man, complete from the waist down
with the exception of one leg, also
some ducks, tin cans. etc. The body
was identified later as that of man
who had disappeared about ten days
before while bathing off Koko Head.
The shark was twenty feet long.
I'm order to get an idea of how
easy it would be for a man eater to
swallow a full grown man, l prepared
the skeleton of a fourteen foot man
eater and after the jaws were dried
separately and propped open l was
able to crawl through them without
the slightest difficulty.
1.-The most remarkable shark ever
caught was secured by Fred Miller
of Tacoma, in 1901. 1t was eight
feet long, and had two heads and
two tails on the one body.
1T is in the South seas that the
shark attains its greatest preemi-
nence. Here it was formerly worship
ped as a god and even now 1t does
not take much to drive many Of the
native converts back to shark wor-
ship. if they have ever really given 1t
up, as the Christian religion sits easy
on many Of them.
IN the Hawaiian Islands shark
worship was at one time almost uni
versal. This worship was not confin-
ed to an unseen, idealized form, but
was often centred in some living
specimen which frequented certain
range along the shore. Most OF the
natives believed in the transmigration
of souls and frequently cast their
dead, and living babies into the sea
to be devoured by the sharks, belieV-
ing that their souls would ever after
animate those fishes and incline them
to respect the bodies Of the living
members of the family. Each shark
god had a special keeper, or kaku'
responsible for its care and worship
THE largest and most celebrated
of the shark gods of the islands was
Kirhaimoana, a male, whose mouth
was said to be as large as an ordinary
grass house, and whose bulk was SO
great that 1t could not navigate the
channels between the islands and
was forced to remain in the open sea-
Second in size and power was kamo-
! hoalii elder brother of the terrible
volcano goddess Pele.
I'm the Solomon Islands sharks are
supposed to be the abode of ghosts.
Men will before their death announce
that they will appear as sharks, and
afterward any shark remarkable for
size or color which is observed to
| haunt a certain shore or rock is taken
to be some ones ghost, and the name
of the deceased is given to it.
"On many of the South Sea Is
lands the eating of shark meat was
tabooed to women, and 1t meant death
IL they disobeyed the taboo. The men
however, had no compunctions about
eating the shark, provided 1t was
some other mans god.
I'm Norway the shark fishery Is
of considerable importance. Small
sloops are employed. AS soon as a
shark is caught it is hauled up just
clear Of the water. With few quick
slashes it's liver is cut out and thrown
into a tub. Then its eyes are put
out and it is cut adrift to go and
complete the very slow, in its case
process of dying where and how il
pleases.
I'm extenuation of their cruelty IN
putting out its eyes, the fishermen
say that If they did not do it so vo'
racious is the animal that 1t would
come back and take the bait a Sec
ond time.
| Like the turtle, the shark is hard
to convince that it has been mutilated
enough TO cause the death of any
| self-respecting animal. In illustra-
ton of this tenacity of life may be
mentioned the instance of large
gray shark captured in Australian