"Talking" To Sharks
Each island group in the South Seas has it own fishing custom. In Papua nets of tremendous strength are made from the webs of giant spiders. The Santa Crucians use spider webs in an even stranger manner. Out of the coconut fronds they construct an octagonal kite, the tail of which serves as a fish line. The lure is merely the mass of cobweb trailing along the water. When the garfish leaps for it he entangles his recurved teeth in the sticky substance and is then easily taken. In Australia the fishermen of the Great ‘Barrier Reef use dynamite in a special way. Ordinarily the detonation bursts the bladder of the fish so that they sink and must be gathered up by diving. But it has been discovered that if the dynamite is placed near tree coral this result does not take place and the stunned fish float to the surface. The Cook Islanders know where to find the resting places of sharks. Diving until he finds one a diver will "talk" to the shark. His right hand strokes its throat while his left with forgivable duplicity slips a noose around the body of the great fish, which is then hauled tail first to the surface.-Victor Heiser.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 65, 20 September 1940, Page 19
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210"Talking" To Sharks New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 65, 20 September 1940, Page 19
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