ATTACKED BY SHARKS.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 December 1921, Page 5

ATTACKED BY SHARKS.

TRAGEDY AT FIJI. It has, always been regarded as a rather remarkable thing that the sharks in 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 colored persons. There has never been fear of danger within the rivers, but no danger at all has ever been dreamed of away up in the fresh water, some 30 miles from the Fea. Yet the unexpected has happened, and two lives have been lost. A native named (Esau wanted something from the store across the river from 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 I the stream. A few days later some ! Chinese saw, but failed to catch, an Bft ! shark near the store. It is believed that sharks 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 by a spell of dry wea-ther.