The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-06-09
WORSHIP THE SHARKS
South Sea islanders Fear Them
as the Abode Of Ghosts.
HOLD SOULS OF THEIR DEAD.

HULL SOVlS VI l0ein U6AU.
The Natives Offer Gifts and Fesd,
Sometimes Human, to Appsass the
Man Eaters-rhs Hewaiians Used 70
Feed rhsir Dead to the Monsters.
In view Of the wide distribution OF
sharks and their strength and ferocity.
qualities which appealed to the savage
mind. 1t 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.
In 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 Mt
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 IL taken to be some ones
ghost, and the name Of the deceased Is
given to it.
Such a one was Sautahimatawa at
Clawa. a dreaded man eater, to which
offerings Of porpoise teeth were made.
At Saa certain food. such as cocoanuts
from certain trees, Is reserved to feed
such a ghost shark. and there are GER
tain men Of whom 1t 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 Clawa II sacred shark had at
tempted to seize a 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 be 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 q kangaroo. a sort Of familiar spirit
or the abode Of one. Some years ago
Manurwar, son Of Mala. the chief man
in vanua Lava. had such 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 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
gods appeared in some visible incar-
nation, and the particular thing in
which it was In the habit Of appear
ing was to him an object Of venera.
ton. Many worshiped 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
offenders body and causing to gen
crate there the very thing which he
had eaten until It produced death. In
one village Taema. the war god, wal
present In a bundle Of sharks teeth
These curiosities were done up In
piece Of native cloth and consulted be.
fore going to battle. II TIE bundle
felt heavy that was q bad omen, but
If light the sign was good, and OF they
went to the fight.
In the Fiji Islands. viavia and Other
gods claim the shark rs their abode
and their devotees must never eat OF
that ash, for II they did they would ba
partaking Of the god himself.
It was In the Hawaiian Islands, how
ever, that shark worship reached itl
greatest perfection. Its worship was
quite common ON the islands, each one
having d special shark as his ances
trail god. The worship of sharks wa.
due largely to the fact that the belief
in the transmigration Of souls II quite
general among the Polynesians. and
to the sharks under the suppositior
that in this way the soul Of the dead
would enter the sharks and 20 animate
the latter as to incline them to respect
the bodies Of the living.
Several Of the African coast tribes
worship the shark. Three or four timel
In the year they celebrate the festiva
Of the shark. which II done In THU
| wise: They all row out in 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 ordel
to satisfy his sacred appetite. But thi!
| is nothing. An infant Is every yea
| sacrificed to the monster. which hal
been fcted and nourished for the sac
rifice from its birth to the age Of ten
! On the day Of the fete 1t Il bound to {
post on a sandy point at low water
| As the tide rises the child may uttel
cries OF terror. but they are Of N
avail, rs it IL abandoned to the waves
and the sharks soon arrive to dnieh 1t,
| agony and thus permit 1t to enter int
! heaven.
The Polynes1ans have an ancient "a
| bic treating Of the flight Of Ina. TIL
daughter Of vaitoringa and Ngaetna
| to the sacred isle. After the sol
dumped her at the edge Of the break
| ers with such DISASTROUS results to II
self from the angry princess the latte1
| summoned the shark and by its hell
| succeeded in reaching the sacred Is
land. Feeling thirsty during the voy