Shark Devils— and Gods 143 



going when the sailors tossed him overboard, was an ancient whaling 

 port. 



The western Pacific is not the only ocean whose sharks have been 

 worshiped or made the heroes and villains of mythology. A4any American 

 Indian tribes were awed by sharks. Laurence M. Klauber, an outstanding 

 herpetologist and an authority on the rattlesnake, was surprised to dis- 

 cover that some tribes of Indians, though not very familiar with the sea, 

 called rattlesnakes "the little sharks of the woods." The Tlingit Indians of 

 southern Alaska divided their tribes into Ws, or "shark," lodges. The 

 chief of one of the tribes was called Ha yeak, an Indian term for the hol- 

 low left in shallow water by a swiftly swimming shark. To the Tlingit 

 Indians, the skate was known as "the canoe of the land otter." Shark 

 crests marked the carved emblems of tribal clans, and the sticks the Indi- 

 ans used in playing a gambling game, vaguely similar to dice, were named 

 after several animals, including the tits. 



In South and Central America, images of sharks appear on ancient 

 Indian pottery, and figurines depicting swimmers being devoured by 

 sharks have been unearthed. Archaeologists have found sting ray barbs 

 that were probably used as sacrificial knives on Indian altars where human 

 victims were ofTered to the gods. Along the Honduran coast, even today 

 Indian children play an old, old game in which the child who is "it" 

 dives into the water and tags other children by pinching or biting them. 

 The game is called "playing at shark." 



The Kojiki, the oldest Japanese history book, has a tale of shark to 

 tell. Once, long ago, the story goes, a white hare on the Island of Oki 

 called to a shark near shore. "Isn't it interesting to compare the number 

 of your fellow creatures and that of mine?" the hare asked. "If you would 

 let your fellow creatures lie in a row from this island to the Cape of 

 Keta, I should step over them, counting their number." The shark agreed, 

 and the hare began hopping, shark by shark, toward what is now the 

 main island of Japan. Just as the hare reached the cape, it taunted the 

 sharks by shouting: "You foolish sharks, you have been deceived. I only 

 wished to come to the mainland." The shark which lay nearest the hare 

 caught it and angrily skinned it alive. 



The naked hare was lying on the cape, weeping with pain, when 

 the god Yasokami came along. Yasokami told the hare to bathe in the 

 sea and lie down on the hill in the wind. The hare took the god's advice, 

 but the salt and the wind only intensified the pain. As it lay there, weep- 

 ing even more, another god, Okuninushi, passed by. Okuninushi, Yaso- 

 kami's brother, was carrying Yasokami's baggage. The brothers were on 

 their way to visit tiie goddess Yakami in Inaba; they were both in love 

 with her. Okuninushi kindly told the hare to bathe in river water and 

 lie down on a bed of cattails. The hare recovered, and, in gratitude. 



