YEAR AMONG CANNIBALS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2354, 12 November 1921, Page 4

YEAR AMONG CANNIBALS.

LIFE IN THE SOUTH SEAS,

SHARKS AND WHALE IN COMBAT.

A fight with a monster or octopus, a combat between sharks and a mother whale, a deepsea battle with a man-eating shark —these and a hundred other marvels, the spoils of a quest of the rainbow’s end in Southern seas, are related in a recently-published book, “White Shadows in the South Seas,” by Mr Frederick O’Brien. “The book is,” he says, “a record of one happy year spent among the simple, friendly cannibals of Atuona Valley, on the Island of Viva-oa, in the Marquesas. It is for those who stay at home, yet dream of foreign places, that I have written this book.”

Mr O’Brien arrived from Papeete, Tahiti, in his schooner Morning Star. His wonderful brass-fitted bed caused tremendous excitement among the natives. “They Averc really mad to have the bed in all its shiny golden beauty, and they could hardly give over examining it, crawling beneath it, smoothing the mattress, and fingering the springs. They shook it, poked it, patted if, and finally Apporo (his ‘landlady’) filled with feminine pride, arrogated to herself the sole privilege of bouncing upon it.” While la undrying small sea-devils preparatory -'to cooking them (removing their poison by rubbing them on small rocks, in the fashion of a washerwoman), four of the boat’s crew attacked a giant octopus. “Four of the long arms had been severed at the ends, when suddenly the octopus came out of his den to fight for his life. He was a reddish-purple globe of horrid flesh, horned all over, with a head not unlike an elephant’s, but with large demoniacal eyes, bitter hating eyes that roved from one to another of us as if selecting his prey. . . .

During its last moments I avus amazed and sickened to hear it growling and moaning in its fury and suffering. I once heard a man dying of hydrophobia make such sounds —half animal, half human.” NATIVE AND SHARK. Harpooning swordfish and the gigantic sunfisli one morning, “avo saAv two Avhales, one Avith a baby at her breast, the other the father Avliale. Upon this mated pair a band of sharks had flung themselves to seize the infant —great Avhite monsters 30ft. in length, man-eaters by blood-taste, tigers in disposition, with heads as large as barrels, and mouths that would drag a man through their terrible gaps. Both the Avhales struck out incessantly with their mammoth flukes, the sharks harrying them as hounds a fox. More than one shark sank wounded to the depths, and one, turning its white belly to the sun, floated dead upon the waves. Another was flung high into the air by a blow Of the mother’s tail. But at last avc suav the nursling drawn from her breast, and the mother hersolt sank, still struggling.” Interrupted in his Avork of shellgathering in a low the surface by a shark butting into his spine, a Paumotan pilot named Pascual seized the mako’s tail like lightning, Avhipping home his knife as the brute swept round and its teeth met in his shoulder. Two further knife-thrusts served only to enrage the shark, which I'olloAved Pascual toAvard the surface. Here (he assistance of his canoe-mate saved him, and the .shark was cut to pieces. “We ale the liver of that nmko, and cursed him as avc ate. I had fought him from the ledge upAvard at least 80ft. of the 100 ft.” A POKER COMEDY. Of the tales with Avliich the volume abounds, perhaps the best is the story of the memorable game for the matches in the cocoanut grove of Lam Kai 00, Avhich opens Avitli the visit of a certain Tahitian, O Lalala, to the Governor. He craved permission to buy tAvo packs of cards to teach his. neighbours “the jcu de pokaree,” a request Avhich the Governor only granted under pressure from Mr O’Brien (for gambling is forbidden in these islands), and on condition that no stakes were Avagered. “We Avill use only matches for counters,” said 0 Lala la, profuse in his thanks. Late that night Mr O’Brien found the Avhole native population squatted about. O Lalala, the madness of poker upon them. “Passey, calley, or makum bigger,” directed O Lalala. “Comely centre; ante uppy.” In the absence of the Governor the game continued until the ultimate match in the Marquesas Avas lost to O Lalala, who now had the absolute monopoly of light and cooking—and refused to sell. His extra.ordinary run ofluck is in part explained by the fact that the poker code in use avus of his own interpretation, if not of his own invention.

But a redeemer of the island’s honour was to hand, in the person of that handsomest of cannibals, Kahuiti, who advised a return to the ways of their fathers . How had lire been made before the coming of the French? By rubbing together two sticks of parua wood. His advice was put into*practice,' and in a few minutes a roaring fire was blazing on the sward. So was destroyed the perfect world in which 0 Lalala sat alone.