92 



Man Against Shark 



These primitive shark hooks from Tahiti and Hawaii were formed by lashing a young 

 twig into a curved position, allowing it to grow the hook-curve permanently, then 

 hacking the hook portion off the living tree. The point on the shark hook at the right 

 is bone— possibly human bone, a favorite with ancient fishermen of the South Seas. 



Courtesy, Alinqvist & Wiksells Boktrycheri Ab from 

 Contribution to the History of Fishing in the Southern Seas by Bengt Anell, 1955 



portion of the twig bearing the natural curve was hacked off the tree 

 and fashioned into a hook. Sometimes a point of sharpened bone was 

 lashed to the end of the hook. The hooks were baited with small fish, 

 or even a piece of white tree bark, lashed to a fiber-strand rope, and 

 usually trolled from a canoe. 



In New Zealand, among the Maori, shark fishing was once a religious 

 ceremony supervised by a priest who stood atop a rock on shore and 



