The Underground World: A mirror of life below the surfaceKnox, Thomas Wallace
History
The Underground World: A mirror of life below the surface
Knox, Thomas Wallace
Caves; Mines and mineral resources; Social history -- 19th century; Tunnels
One day a fellow who had been unfortunate in turtle hunting, and taken
nothing for a fortnight, determined to follow the chief, and find out
where he had so much good luck. He paddled his canoe silently along,
keeping some distance in the rear, so that he was not noticed by
the lover. The latter reached the cave, and was so intent on seeing
his lady love that he did not think to look around. Taking a bag of
cocoa-nuts, he dived and rose as usual. The other waited a long time
for his reappearance, and at last was rewarded by seeing him come
up dragging a turtle, which he lifted into the canoe. Just as he
was picking up his paddle, he discovered the spy, and knew that his
secret, or at least a part of it, had been found out.
[Sidenote: FATE OF A SPY.]
The other laughed, but his laugh was brief, as the lover went for him,
and there was every promise of a fight. The canoes met with a crash,
and the men grappled and fell into the water. Their struggle was long,
as neither had any weapons or clothing, and their oily skins did not
offer good holding-ground for their hands. At last the chief had the
spy by the throat, and at the same time struck him a violent blow on
the nose, so that the blood spurted out.
The waters of the South Pacific swarm with sharks. Some of these grow
to a considerable size, and are strong enough to seize a man and kill
him. They rarely attack the natives; there seems to be a friendliness
among the sharks and the natives, as the latter can swim among them
with almost complete safety, while a white man would be caught in a
moment. It sometimes happens that a group of natives will be bathing
and frolicking in the water with sharks all around, as inattentive as
though nothing were near them. But let a white man join the party, and
he will instantly attract the sharks. A white cloth thrown into the
water will bring them around; anything white seems to draw them and
receive their attention. It not unfrequently happens that sailors who
have incautiously put their naked hands or feet into the water over
the sides of a boat have had them bitten off by sharks.
[Sidenote: FOOD FOR SHARKS.]
Blood also attracts them, and where there is blood, they make no
distinction between natives and foreigners. In the present instance,
the lover had drawn blood from his antagonist, and it instantly
occurred to him that both their lives were in danger if any sharks
were around. He released his hold, dived under his canoe, and swam
away a hundred feet or more, so as to be out of the vicinity of the
blood he had drawn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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