SNAPPER AND SHARK IN NEW ZEALAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 311, 31 December 1872, Page 4

SNAPPER AND SHARK IN NEW ZEALAND.

a Iliicler this heading, "Gr.H.IL" addresses -a loßjy- c communicatio_>tp the Field from ■-.f •■^hichj the following is an extract : — The ;,;cbnSm|ri New Zealand shark is by no f rneaus^Kasty or ravenous feeder, nor is it :or^e|sVigatest use to go aftor him armed Ai^with ■(__ meat-hook and jack-chain appa- ' rains provided by,the ship chandlers for the ■A;_ib^ ; o^vßkippefß.'i|'.^The same tackle we U,^a^b^|n -using for snapper will, wisely used, get great fun from Si|pH|i'(;p|rl;icularly when two men are to||!^Ber| : r One alone had better break his ; and * have done with him as IMooi.-'ai/possible. Irint thai you receive of your friend shark is a" sensation i^P#!Jpli»'^^|st%ol : d -of vtho^ottora of .the f^Pg^^l ocean, which immediately begins ; you, , commun icating a 0^ helplessh^is , and - fatuity. i th'e" line, 'steadily, and .quietly; time you feel K inclined .to •. by^nof means unlikely^. Js ! ;_ot put easy . tern-: ..e_d'ugli~may ; ''' ; permit 'himself: _^^pppi^edled/u p to^he "top; of . the- water, ) 'ytioy gives.^vtwist- ; pfv-this , ; f||i|B ''gpes^a_d| :i^!^y |[-^ssjWjih Kim^hSpl^i 1 fc^^liiei^ s _i_i»-_i^ ■ li o 1 ci : -' "

\- ;gentiy and tenderly* as- ; your big friend *' .' n^ P^-anpihW i .%ber-ei||pi'Y^ i tfa__:t<fp|&i_^^ '' mß y- B Pl^^^iSlwKA to x^tX^W^^W^^^f^SS^^^ I ; : tiUjoali^lte ; below. ; .il___i;_ltiJ^>;^H: ;^^t^SHj i ■ — stiliiip.ore ri^^o^^ah:: ; i;ban,t3^™i . .For__eave v jj^@lM^^^ 01,i ' ; which^ml^iK^e-.boG? & : sjs^jmrt ', Hau'onV tilt^Jat^ ?»S t- bt* of your" ' , fj^/ifyour Bcheme has answered as it *; i^nouid, tail foremost, he having wound • the line some half dczen times around him, Now is the time; haul on, whilst your companions, kneeling in the bottom of the boat and well braced against the side, look out for a chance of seizing the whirling, splashing brute just above the tail. Bah.! missed! and a deserved whack ■ on the side of his head that makes lie., spin again ! Down sndoving to the depths. Up once more, and two pair of strong hands seize and hold on to him like grim death. Never mind the boat ! let hei capsize if she likes ! Hold on yourself! Tug, strain, and splash !— the great white face and snappiug jaws trying via vain to reach you. In with bira over the gunwale, and jump on the thwart all hands, as he kicks and plunges and snaps in ail directions ! A stout knife and a strong wrist, determined to do it, straight through the spine above the tail and the six or seven foot of savagery is as calm as a sucking dove. Don't go put shark fishing ou purpose ; go out for something else, and he is sure to turn up sooner or later.*"* He comes in like a woodcock in a dull pheasant battue when there is no ground game, and you ought to be ever ready for him. He i 3 really good fun, and sometimes hard to g-et , into the boat, making a gallant fight. , His flesh is excellent for bait, and his oil admirable for many purposes. No doubt shark skin is rough, but the roughness is all the wrong way, and, as you have to seize him by the famous hand grip above the tail so punishing to Loki, you get .little advantage from that peculiarity. Moreover, the said tail being a heterocercal affair, when you have got a firm grip, you have an eccentric wriggling struggle to contend with, which would- have puzzled the catcher of Loki himself. $1 A . The gentle Maori would catch a dozen sharks toy our one, by knowing time and tide, and possibly by alittle ground baiting. AntiMaorists say his own peculiar savour is quite enough to congregate on infinity of sharks aro_nd his boat. At any. rate he does or rather did, kill enormous quantities of them, split them and' hung them up to dry on loDg stages, swaying in the sun and wind in a way which remind one of the long lines of " gueux " swinging in the air in Callot's etchings, and which, when they came between the wind and your nobility, gave you a very fair idea of what manner of savour must have permeated a large portion of Europe in those much lamented times. When roasted on the embers, dried shark smells very well indeed, if you are passably hungry. lam ashamed to say nthat I have never been hungry enough to eat it myself, but I have been told by thpse who have that it is decidedly superior to the British^ bloater, and that -a shark and potato diet is "fine for fechting."" Possibly this diet was the cause of the Maoris being so fond of devouring the slain after a battle. #.They were saturated with shark, and for the time hardly human beings, though I must honestly, confess that the spirit was more changed than tbe flesh, for the most hideous "hammerhead" is positively handsome in comparison with a bull- Maori in iheigU excitement of the war-dance. Perhaps 1 the transformation was the ojfcher way, and the poor shark ' was degraded to a Maori.