The sun., 1908-12-27
NAHY EaO WORSHIP SHARKS
POWERFUL GODS TO THE Saw
Z AGE DWELLERS BY THE SEA.
IL the IsIsnds OF the Pacific the Belief
u Common That tho Souls 81 the
Dead fnter the Shark-Legends OF
the Deitics VINO Have Aided Man.

dead fnter the SnhFh-L6Benub o
the Deitics VINO Have Aided Man
In view Of the wide distribution O
sharks and their strength and ferocity
qualities which appeal 10 the savage
mind, IL is not strange that the cult o.
shark worship should have arisen. Thil
Worship is especially common in the
South Seas.
IN the Solomon Islands living saoreC
Dhjects are chiefly sharks, alligators
snakes, &c. Sharks are In all these Is
lands very often thought 10 be the ebode
of ehosts, as natives viii at times Before
theft death announce that they will ap.
pear as sharks. Afterward any shark
+ feiflafkable for size or color which is OBJ
esryed to haunt a certain shore or rock
h taken to be a ghost and the name OF
4. the deceased Is given to 1t.
Such was the case OF Sautahimatawa al
UlaWa, dreaded man eater to which
offerings OF porpoise teeth were made
AZ Saa certain food. such as ooCoenuts
from certain trees, is reserved to feed
such a ghost shark, and there are certain
(, men Of whom IL is known that after death
hey win he In sharks. These, therefore
are allowed to eat such food ip the sacred
place. In Saa and in Ulawa II a sacred
sherk had attempted to seize man and
~ hnd escaped the people would be SO
much afraid Of the sharks anger that
hey would throw the man back in the
~ TO be drowned. These sharks also
nSfs thought to aid in catching the bonito.
i9f taxing which supernatural power was
c6nsidered necessary.
IN the Banks Islands shark may be
kangaroo. a sort Of familiar spirit. or
iis abode. Some years ago Manur-
war, son OF Mala, the chief man in
Vanua Lava, had such a shark. He
3 had given money to a Aanwo man to
send It 10 him. 1t was very tame and
would come UP to him when he went
down to the beach at Nawono and follow
along in the surf as he walked along the
shore. In the New Hebrides some men
have the power, the natives believe, of
changing themselves into sharks
The Samoan native believed that his
Eods appeared in some visible incarna-
ton, and fhe' particular thing in which
it was in the habit OF appearing was to
3 him an object Of veneration. Many wor-
shipped the shark in this way. and while
they would freely partake of the gods Of
others they felt that death would be the
penalty should they eat their own god
The god was supposed to avenge the in
suit by taking up his abode in the Of
lenders body and causing to generate
there the very thing which he had eaten
until it produced death. In one village
Taerna. the war god. was present in
bundle OF sharks teeth. These curl
oeities were done up in a piece OF native
cloth and consulted before going to
battle. If the bundle felt heavy that
was a bad omen, but il light the sign was
good, and of they went to the fight
In the Fiji Islands viavia aud other
gods claim the shark as their abode, and
their deyotees must never eat OF that
ileh, ss il they did they would he partalS-
ing Of the god himself, In the Caroline
Ielapds the natives honor their gods under
she guise Of some special bird, fish or
trte In which they are supposed TO re-
side and with which they are identified.
These they style their Tan. war;
literally canoe, vehicle or medium. Here
the shark typifies most appropriately
The god OF war.
'@ II was in the Hawaiian Islands, how
ever. that shark worship reached its
greatest perfection. Its worship was
quite common on the islands. each island
having special shark as it's ancestral
Rod. This worship Of sharks was due
largely 10 the fact that the belief in the
franemiGration OF souls is quite general
among the Polynesians, and the Hawaiians
would feed their dead to the sharks
nnder the sipposition that in this way
the soul of the dead would enter the shark
and 60 animate the latter as to incline
them to respect the living.
Eaoh OF these shark gods had a special
keeper. or kahu. who was responsible for
its care and worship. The office OF kahu
syas hereditary and was handed down
from parent 10 child for generations, or
until the family became extinct when 1t
would be taken up by another family.
Intimate relations were generally sup
.Tcsed 20 exist between the god and his
Keeper. and in return for pig or fowl
fbe shark was believed TO be ready to
aid and assist him should any danger
threaten. Should the kahu be upset in
= canoe and be in serious peril the faith
fnl shark would appear just in time to
take him on his back in safety to the
nearest shore.
& The largest and most celebrated Of the
shark gods was Kuhaimoana. a male
whose mouth was said TO be as large as
an ordinary grass house. Second In size
and power was Kamohoalii. elder brother
Of the goddess Pele. Like many of the
other shark gods he was able at pleasure
to assume human form. When in human
form he usually made his home in pro-
found solitudes near the volcanoes OF
Mokuaweoweo and Kilauea on Hawaii, |
and Hsleakala on Maui. In his shark |
form he Is still said to roam at large in |
the deep waters around Maui.
h The principal reason for. the affection |
shown by the people TO the shark god |
was the fact that so many of the fish as
serted human parentage and claimed to
be related by ties Of kinsh ip TO their
kahus. Such was the case with Kaahu-
pahu and her brother Kahi'uka. the two
Famous shark gods of the Eva Lagoon,
ON Oahu.
These two when still in childho ood
wandered away from their home and
nlysteriously disappeared After fruit
less search their parents we're informed
that they had been transformed into
sharks, and they soon became the special
- II 4.