Sharks on a Line 91 



slowly, so did the shark. If an unwary "baitsman" jerked his hand or 

 made a sudden movement, the shark would strike— and snatch off the 

 hand. 



Some snares have a kind of float, a propeller-shaped block of wood 

 whose upcurving ends resemble the hull of a boat. This block is deco- 

 rated with ornamental carvings or paintings whose patterns are derived 

 from some dimly remembered rituals involving fishing magic. For the 

 hunting of the shark has long been involved in magic and religion. The 

 mixture of sharks and sorcery is complex, and neighboring islands some- 

 times show vastly different attitudes toward the shark. In the Tabar 

 Islands of the Bismarck Archipelago off New Guinea, sharks are caught, 

 but in the nearby Tanga Islands there is a long-standing taboo against 

 the hunting of the shark, which is believed to be a dangerous wizard. 

 There are reasonable grounds for this superstition, because snared sharks 

 have frequently towed away their would-be captors' canoes and neither 

 canoes nor canoeists were ever seen again. 



A dangerous variation of the snare was developed by some unsung 

 primitive Pacific island fishermen. They would dive from a canoe to 

 caverns in the reefs, where sharks sometimes rested with their heads in 

 crevices and their tails sticking out. The diver would loop a noose around 

 the shark's tail and signal, by tugging on the rope, to his confederates 

 in the canoe. The startled shark would be hauled to the surface, tail first, 

 and clubbed to death. This technique is still used by some natives in 

 Papua and New Guinea. They also believe in the use of shark rattles— as 

 does, oddly enough, A. M. Rapson, the Chief of the Division of Fisheries 

 there. One theory is that the rattle sounds, to a hungry shark at least, 

 like the excited cries of sea birds feeding upon a shoal of small fish, and 

 the shark rushes to share in the feast. Native divers on Thursday Island, 

 Australia, are afraid to go after crawfish (Spiny lobsters) in deep water 

 because of another phenomenon of sound. The natives say the crawfish 

 make a snapping noise with their tails when anyone tries to catch them— 

 and this sound lures sharks like an underwater dinner bell. 



There is some evidence to suggest that crude hooks preceded the 

 snare as an implement for catching sharks. Hooks made from human 

 bones were common, and, in old Hawaii, a chief might will his bones to 

 friends or personal servants so that they could fashion hooks from them. 

 In some areas, the bones of great fishermen or brave chiefs were par- 

 ticularly prized for hook-making. The hooks were made by drilling a 

 series of holes along a line following the desired curve. This weakened 

 portion was knocked out and the remainder was smoothed down. 



Other hooks were made of wood. A twig of a young ironwood tree 

 was bent so that it curved back on itself. It was lashed in this position 

 for a year or two, until it was more than half an inch thick. Then the 



