The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1909-04-23
WORSHIP THE SHARKS
South Sea Islanders Fear Them
as the Abode of Ghosts.
HOLD SOULS OF THEIR DEAD.

Man Eaters-The Hawaiians Used 10
Feed Their Dead to the Monsters.
In view OF the wide distribution Of
sharks and their strength and ferocity,
qualities which appealed TO the savage
mind II Is not strange that the cult Of
shark worship should have arisen. This
worship is especially common In the
south seas, where sharks are very nu-
merOus, says the Detroit Free Press.
II the Solomon islands living sacred
objects are chiefly sharks, alligators,
snakes, etc. Sharks are in all these is
lands very often thought to be the
abode Of ghosts, as natives will at
times before their death announce that
they will appear as sharks. 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 1t.
Such a one was Sautahimatawa at
UlaVa. q dreaded man eater, TO which
offerings OF porpoisc teeth were made.
At Saa certain food, such as cocoanuts
from certain trees, is reserved 10 feed
such a ghost shark, and there are GER
tain men Of whom it is known that
after death they will be in sharks
These therefore, are allowed to eat
such food in the sacred place. In Saa
and Ulawa if a sacred shark had at
tempted 10 seize man and he had
escaped the people would be so much
afraid OF the sharks anger that they
would throw the man back in the sea
TO lc drowned. These sharks also were
thought to aid in catching the bonito,
for taking which supernatural power
was necessary.
IN the Banks islands a shark may
be a tangaroa sort of familiar spirit
or the abode OF one. Some years ago
ManurWar, son Of Mala, the chief man
I'm Eanua Lava, had such n shark. He
had given money to a Manwo man to
send it TO 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 rs 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
gods appeared in some visible incar-
nation. and the particular thing in
which II was I'm the habit OF appear
Ing was 60 him an object Of vcnera-
ton Many worshipcd the shark in
this way, and while they would freely
par.ake 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
sult 10y taking up his abode In the
offenders body and causing to gen
crate there the very thing which he
had eaten until It produced death. In
one village Tacma the war god, was
present I'm a bundle OF sharks teeth
These curiosities were done up in n
piece Of native cloth and consulted be-
fore going to battle. If the bundle
felt heavy that was n bad omen, but
II light the sign was good, and off they
went to the fight.
In the Fiji islands, Viavia and other
gods claim the shark as their abode,
and their devotces must never eat OF
that fish, for II they did they would be
partaling Of the god himself.
1t was I'm the Hawaiian Islands, how
ever, that shark worship reached its
greatest perfection. It's worship was
quite common on the islands, each one
having a special shark as his ances-
trail god. The worship Of sharks was
due largely to the fact that the belief
IN the transmigration Of souls is quite
general among the Polyncsians, and
the Uawaiiaus would feed their dead
to the sharks under the suppoSitiOn
that I'm this way the soul of the dead
would enter the sharks and so animate
the latter as to incline them to respcci
the bodies Of the living.
Several Of the African coast tribe.
worship the shark. Three or four times
In the year they celebrate the festival
Of the shark. which is done in this
wise: They all row out i'm their boats
to the middle Of the river, where they
invoke, with the strangeSt ceremonies,
the protection Of the great shark. They
offer TO him poultry and goats in order
to satisfy his sacred appetite. But this
Is nothing. An infant is every year
sacrificed to the monster, which has
been feted and nourishcd for the sac
rilce from its birth TO the age Of ten.
On the day Of the fete 1t is bound to n
post on a sandy point at low water
AS the tide rises the child may utter
cries OF terror, but they are of no
avail as IL is abandoned TO the waves
and the sharks soon arrive TO finish its
agony and thus permit it To enter into
heaven.
Tie Polynesians have an ancient IA
ble treating Of the flight Of Ina. the
daughter Of Naitoringa and Ngactna
10 the sacred isle After the sole