11 



The mano-kihikihi and smaller lalakeas are caught in olcl 

 nets, but the larger lalakea with hooks, as are also all the 

 man eating kinds. Especial preparations were made- for the 

 capture of the niuhi, but there has been no regular fishing for it 

 for the last eighty years. The common kind of shark was 

 caught in vast quantities, and the liver with a little of the 

 flesh was wrapped in ki leaves and baked underground, then 

 from fifty to a hundred of the largest single and double canoes 

 were loaded with baked' meat and large quantities of the 

 pounded roots of awa, mixed with a little water, and contained 

 in large gourds. The fleet would sail many miles out to sea 

 in the direction in which the niuhi is known frequently to ap- 

 pear,. Arrived at a comparatively shallow place, the canoe con- 

 taining the head fisherman and: the priest and sorcerer, who 

 was supposed to be indispensable, would cast anchor, meat 

 and. the baked liver would be thrown overboard, a few bundles 

 at a time to attract sharks. After a few days the grease and 

 scent of cooked meats would spread through the water many 

 miles in radius. The niuhi would almost always make its- 

 appearance after the third or fourth day, when bundles of the 

 baked meats were thrown as- fast as it could swallow them. 

 After a while it would get comparatively tame and would 

 come up to one or other of the canoes to be fed. Bundles of 

 the liver with the pounded awa would then be given to it, 

 when it would become not only satiated, but also stupified 

 with awa, and a noose was then slipped over its head, and 

 the fleet raised anchor and set sail for home, the shark fol- 

 lowing a willing prisoner, the people of the nearest canoes 

 taking care to feed it on the same mixture from time to time. 

 It was led right into shallow water till, it was. stranded and 

 then killed. Every part of its bones and skin was- supposed 

 to confer unflinching bravery on the possessor. The actual 

 captor, that is, the one who slipped the noose over the niuhi's 

 head, would also, ever after, be always victorious. This 

 shark's natural home is, perhaps, in the warmer waters of the 

 equator, as the Gilbert Islanders now here, make the assertion 

 that it is very frequently seen and captured at their group. 



