Curious Animal Life and Fishing

CURIOUS ANIMAL LIFE AND FISHING. BY W. 0. LEE, SAMOAN MISSIONARY.

It is remarkable how few wild animals there are to be found in the tropical jungles of Samoa, the fauna of the islands being confined to the smaller and lower forms of animal life. There are a few wild boars and goats on some of the larger islands, but none of the fierce animals and venomous reptiles such as one would expect to find in a tropical country. It it said that snakes once abounded, but they are very scarce now. Lizzards, ants, cockroaches and rats are everywhere present, but you soon become accustomed to them, although it is

unpleasant to have the rats nibble at ones feet at night. The lizzards have a somewhat uncomfortable habit of dropping sud- denly from the thatched ceiling onto your head, neck or hands; the cockroaches eat the binding to get at the paste on your best books, the centipedes take possession of your spare dresses and pantaloons, and it takes some time to become accustomed to the food being spiced with little ants that are so small that time and hunger will not permit one to undertake the task of removing them all. If the eye could not see, the stomach would not be troubled over these little pests. Sea gulls are frequently seen, and wild ducks and black-birds are found in the marshes. "Wild pigeons and birds of most beauti- ful plumage abound in the forests, a description of which we take from Marie Frazer's book, "In Stevenson's Samoa": "The upper veranda which overlooked the garden, plantations, and a wide stretch of forest, was an excellent point of vantage from which to watch the innumerable wild birds that came to feed on nutmegs and other tropical fruits. As day dawned and

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the light crept over mountain and forest, the 'vilia,' a little rail

with mottled black and brown plumage, in which the spirit of the god Alii Tu was supposed to live, would emerge from the bushes and warily creep across the grass picking up insects here and there. Then, as the sun flashes his first beams on dew-laden tree and flower, the clear liquid note of the 'jao' (wattled honey eater) was heard, and he and mate might be seen busy among the his blossoms of the mummy apple; and the 'fuia;'a dark plumaged starling, which represents the spirit of a sort of god called 'Moso,' joined in with a mellow voice. Among the forest trees many species of doves flitted from branch to branch, their beauti- ful plumage — green, pink, white, purple and grey—showing clearly against the sombre foliage. Later, as the sun grew more powerful, the 'sargas' exquisite little parakeets, with feathers of the gayest green, blue, crimson, purple and yellow, came chatter- ing by in pairs, and might be seen clinging to the fruit blossoms, from which they sucked the nectar; and overhead the tropic birds sailing in wide circles, their snowy plumage and long, red tail feathers (the latter a distinguishing feature in the head-dress of certain Samoan chiefs) showing distinctly against the sky." The above pen picture of bird life on the islands is not over- drawn, but would be of daily occurrence at the home of Robert Louis Stevenson, the novelist, at Vailima, on the mountain side back of Apia. Wild pigeoDS are great pets among the native chiefs, and they cage and care for them like our ladies do their canaries. In contradistinction to this, the women of Samoa have a little pig for a pet fastened with a fibre-rope harness around its body, and tied to a post until it becomes "faalata" — tame. It is not upon the land, but in the sea and on the beach, that

we find the endless varieties of animal life, from the mussel or jelly fish, looking more like inanimate pieces of dark, greyish gelatine than real life that breathes and moves with the sands of time on the bottom of the great ocean. On the sandy beach there is a spider which lives not in a shell like most of his neighbors, but seems to spend all of his time, at least when the tide is out, excavating himself and then working most energetically to make as great a heap of sand on the beach as possible, before the tide shall turn, level his work, and cover

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him up again. In our ignorance, this seemed a perfect example of labor lost, but the spider seemed to understand his own busi- ness best, and he did it thoroughly and well. Still more interest-

ing to the student, and a really beautiful sight, is the lilliputian army of brilliant red, and bright yellow, sand spiders to be seen to the best advantage on a large, black mud-flat formed by the tide when it comes in, backing up a river and causing it to over- flow, then when the tide goes out the river drops into its narrow bed and for a few hours the mud-flat blossoms with rosebuds in

the form of red and yellow spiders burrowing their way up through the sand, perching like prairie dogs at the edge of their holes, and as quickly diving into them at the stranger's near approach. Then, there are large land spiders, almost as big as lobsters, that the natives are very fond of eating when cooked in their ovens. Shells in endless variety are found on the sea shore and by the natives who dive into the ocean after them. We have the spotted cowries, scorpions, wing-shells, helmet, limpit, ear-shell, scallops, various kinds of oyster shells, sea trumpets, cone murex, volute, oliva, mitre, harp, spindle-tower, and the beautiful nautilus, which when cleaned with muriatic acid is a pure pearl, inside and out. The large, pearl oyster shells, large as saucers, that are brought home by the missionaries are not native to Samoa, but come from the Society Islands. There are fresh water shrimps in the rivers, and salt water shrimps in the sea, and the same is true of the ugly, snake-like eel. Fish of innumerable kinds abound in the sea, and they form the staple meat of the islanders. There is the curious box or cow-fish in shape like a tailor's flat-iron, and another fish with a tail as long and slim as a rawhide riding whip. (These are not fish stories, for a good specimen of the first may be seen in our Deseret Museum, together with samples of many varieties of fish found in Samoan waters; while we have the whip-tail in our own curio case.) Then there is the bonito that travels in schools. They chase a schooner and simply churn the waters into a milky foam on every side of the boat as they leap out of the water and back again. They are game fish weighing five to fifteen pounds, and what a tattoo they beat with their tails on the deck when they

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are caught. There are whales, sharks and porpoises, together with turtles and the wonderful flying fish that soars like a sea gull for a wonderful distance above the surface of the sea. One of the most interesting sights in native fishing is catch- ing a school of mullet. It is something like a roundup of cattle on our western plains. The natives of two or more villages com- bine with their nets and canoes, making a very pretty sight as they skim along inside the reef, looking for a school of fish; when they find them, they spread out in a half-circle and gradually drive them towards the shore, then the nets are let down and fastened together in one long line, the two ends taken towards the shore, until they form a complete circle, after which the circle is gradually reduced in size and the grab-nets are put in position just outside of the constantly narrowing circle. The grab-nets are made with two bamboos, about twelve feet long, starting together at the hand and spreading out some six or eight feet at the other end with a net stretched between the poles. Then, as the circle of net is made smaller and smaller, the fish become frightened and jump over the net, only to be caught, nine out of ten, in the bamboo net, which is then tilted up so that they slide struggling into the sack prepared for them at the fork of the handle below. During this operation, another more fortunate fish may have been waiting his chance, jumps over the net and

escapes. For a few days after a fishing party of this kind has been out, fish are very plentiful on the native bill of fare. Another mode of fishing, is to take a stick, about the size of a rake-handle, and fasten to the larger end of it three or four bearded points made of one-fourth inch steel rods. This spear the native carries in his hand as he walks along the sandy beach. Practice has made him almost perfect in seeing, and in suddenly throwing his spear, with unerring aim, at the fish that ventures too near the shore. It is no inconvenience to him to wade out for his spear, as he wears neither shoes nor hose, his "lavalava," or short skirt, is easily raised and his knee-pants are indelible, being tattooed on his body. They also have the never-failing hook and line, generally such as we use at home, but many still use the old style consisting of a hook made of tortoise-shell on the back of which they fasten a

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bright rock, or piece of pearl, with a chicken feather between, making a fly-hook; then, in lieu of catgut, they use the inner bark of a fibrous tree, shredded and twisted into fine cord, with the balance of the line made out of that most useful article, yellow horse hair from the cocoanut husk. Sharks are plentiful but very seldom come inside the reef, for this reason the natives who are passionately fond of shark's meat, the liver in particular, go out in large village whale-boats and stay over night when fishing for shark. If they have been suc- cessful, the entire village is soon aware of the fact, and the people rush down to the beach to welcome the victors home. They signal their success in this way. When first they sight their own village, they put sticks or oars up in the boat for flag poles, and if other cloth is not forthcoming, do not hesitate to take off a shirt, if they have one, or "lavalava," of which they always have one, and hoist a few for flags. Then as they near the entrance through the reef to the harbor, they commence chanting a song beating time as their paddles are lifted against the sides of the boat. The steersman stands at the stern with an oar, fastened with a rope, for a rudder, while the pilot stands upright on the prow of the boat, with pole in hand, and after pushing the point first this way and then the other, to escape the jagged coral on either side of the narrow and crooked passage through the reef, gives way to the drum major, who, in a way that would make many of his pompous rivals in this country green with envy, twirls his paddle around on his fingers, under his arms, and around his legs, in a most bewildering manner. It is indeed a fine sight for the foreigners, as they sit on their verandas, to watch these brown-skinned athletes enter a harbor in true Samoan style. Then comes the partition of the shark, for these are cut up and divided in common, not forgetting the "faifeau," or mission- aries' portion, which, however, is not always eaten, as shark's flesh

is indeed strong food. After the flesh comes the inevitable call

—medicine—that good for for the missionary and his "vai laan" is

some big chief who has "puea"—poisoned —through eating shark's liver, which, strange to say, has the same effect upon his body that eating grain or drinking water, when very warm, has upon a horse; in other words he is foundered, joints stiffened and in great

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pain, and sometimes dies. An Israelite would say they should observe the law of Moses concerning fish out of the sea that have no scales. That reminds us that sharks not only are free from scales, but are mammals and carry their young. A very fine specimen of a minnow shark, weighing some three or four pounds, can be seen in the Deseret Museum, which was taken by a native, with two others, from the mother shark that he had caught. Of the native Samoans, their home life, with their peculiar customs and habits, we will treat in our next chapter.