Evening star., 1924-06-15

her cargo OF supplies after
several days of riding on and
L off the lee Of the island, and
went on her voyage to other atoils.
I, however, was determined to avail
myself of the leisure of the wise
Nohea to learn all about the Ash in
the lagoon and sea. An ignorant
amateur of the life of the ocean, J
was devoured with curiosity to peer
into it under his guidance, and l
was resolute to spend my days in
such sport instead of in sleep after
registering of nights with the traders.
"Nohea," said, will you show me
what the Creator has put in the
water?''
The diver replied. ''E, 1 will show
you; and he kept his word, with
prideful exactitude.
Days and nights l returned dog
weary. from the sea and the lagoon
but never once threw myself on my
mat and counted my pains for
naueht, as scores Of times l had on
the brooks. bays and oceans OF
America. With our variety of edi-
bles in islands and continents where
there are real soil and domestic an
imals of many kinds. we can hardly
appreciate the desp e necessity OF
the Paumotuans to b the waters
of their bare atolls for food.
Shellfsh, mollusks and crustaceans
played as important part in their
aliment as ordinary fish, and ia or ika
meant both. In some Islands the
people were forced to subsist largely
on tacloho, the furbelowed clam or
giant tridacna, called pahua here
and benitier in Europe, where the
shells were used for holy water
fonts. The flesh of the pahua was
sold in the Papete market but was
not delicacy.
The clam itself weighed up to fifty
pounds or more, and the pair of
shells from a dozen to 500 pounds,
according to the age of the living
CLANS. The shells were so hard that
they furnished the blades of the
shoveIs with which the native had
anciently dug wells to hold the brack-
ish water.
Tho pahua is also a devil" said
Nohea- In the lagoon he lies with
his shells open to catch his prey.
Many a shark when the pahua has
closed on him has torn of hts tail in
trying to get free or has died in the
trap. When a young man I put my
hand into a shell not bigger than
your face and it shut upon it I was
feeling for pearl she'll under fifty
feet of water.
II could not reach the threads that
anchor the clam to the rock because
It was in a crevice..
"If l could have cut. them l could
have freed myself, but / was able
after a minute to force my knife be-
side my hand and stab the pahua SO
that it let me go. Paumotuans have
often lost their lives in pahua's
shells"
Nohea rubbed me every day with
and my wounds healed quickly, al
though the scars remained. He said
that Paumotuans sometimes died of
coral poisoning. but usually recov-
cred, unless their blood was tainted
by the dread disease brought origi-
nally by the whites. and which the
Paumotuan cured with native RENE
dies.
There were fish that were deadly
to eat, some at one time and some at
another. as fish venomous in one Ia
goon were innocuous in another.
WHAT made these nsh poisonouso
" Science guessed that the larvae
of the coral animals were the cause.
These fish ate the coral, and it was
noticed that in December, January
and February, at the time the corals
expelled their larvae-were in bios
som, as the expression went-the
toxicity of the fish was highest.
Other fish were made poisonous by
eating the sea cenupedes, curious
creatures which looked like yards of
black string and wound themselves
around the corals. They had thou
sands OF minute legs.
While all land crabs were safe to
eat certain sea crabs were injuri-
Gus, one in particular, a stark white
species, which was death to swallow
and which despairing Paumotuans
had bolted as a suicide potion. Even
certain starfish must be avoided. one,
a lovely cone-shaped kind, being
deadly. their barbs injecting viru-
lent poison which speedily dilated the
arm and then the body hugely, and
made the heart stop beating.
To the native such illnesses were
awesome mysteries, yet he had
learned ages ago to distinguish the
haneful fishes by the empire path
of pain and death which all races
have trod toward safety from the
enemies of mankind. His more open
foes whom he hunted for food, the
with adroitness.
The devilfish, or octopus, frequent
ed mostly the outside of the reef
and preyed on mollusks and crus-
taceans, being naturally timid and
inoffensive. though capable of af-
frighting attack when molested. They
commonly took up their abode in
some cavern or crevice, and lay safely
ensconced in the shadow, Stimulating
axtfully that their victims hardly
ever saw them until grasped by the
suckers of the many long, muscular
arms.
The devilhsh was, as / said. at most
times shy and harmless, but when
reused the most dangerous of an
tagontsts. We met one at close quar-
tors the third time we padded to the
caves or recesses in the coral rock.
Il Was near sunset and there were
AlTo01y black shadows about the
ledga. which at~low tide disclosed TIA