MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 September 1939, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES

MANGO—MAN EATERS. (Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”) Wellington, and no doubt, other harbours in pioneer days were infested with man-eating sharks. Of late years we hear little or nothing of them. This may be attributed to the waste oil from so many steamers which caused so much controversy a few years ago. A strange thing which does not appear to have been mentioned in the Press is the almost if not total immunity of Maori bathers to this danger. In 1842 a pioneer family referring to this, said there were ten Maoris to every pakeha bather off Pipitea Point yet no Maori was ever bitten, whilst no less than five white men were seriously attacked, and one John Balmer died from loss of blood. He was attacked by a twenty-foot shark and was twice • drawn under the small canoe of a Maori boy, who pluckily hauled him aboard from the third attack. Amos Burr had both arms bitten off at the elbows, and followed an active life for many years after it. He was fitted with apparatus which he referred to as “My brace and bits.” The elbows were fitted with spring sockets where the “bits” were inserted. These comprised a knife and fork, a spoon, a pannikin and a pen, also a pair of hooks to hold the reins when riding or driving—incidentally to fight an opponent. For twenty years he was known as “Hookey” Burr. The immunity of the Maori to shark attack may probably be attributed to his dark skin being an unattractive bait under water.