ATTACKED BY SHARKS.

Shannon News, 4 January 1922, Page 3

ATTACKED BY SHARKS.

TRAGEDY FIJI. LOSS OF TWO LIVES. Suva, November 15. It has always been regarded as a Tot-her remarkable thing that the sharks hi Fiji; waters, although very numerous, have never been'--known.,to attack a white person, and seldom, if ever, a native. While care has always been taken in bathing in the open sea, bathing in the rivers, where the waters are brackish, is common by both whites and .coloured persons. There has never been fear of danger within the rivers, hut. no danger at all has .ever been dreamed of away up in the fresh water, some 30 miles from the sea. Yet the unexpected has happened, and two lives have been lost. A native named Essau wanted something from the store across the river for his home, and picking up his little girl, placed her on his. shoulders and set out across the river, as he had often done before. He or his girl were never seen again alive, but his body, frightfully lacerated and partly eaten was found near at hand, while the little girl’s body, minus, a leg, was found, half a mile down the stream. A few days later some Chinese saw, but failed to catch, an Bft shark near the store. It is believed that sharfes followed a great drive of saga, which recently invaded the Rewa River, and have not been able to find their way out again, owing to the lowness of the river, induced hv a spell of dry weather.