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Nearly two months later, two ta~nifa of a much larger size, appeared at the mouth of the Vaivasa. Several of the white residents tried, night after night, to hook them, but the monsters refused to look at the baits. Then appeared on the scene an old one-eyed Malay named 'Reo, who asserted he could kill them easily.
Placing our guns and bags in the care of one of the warriors, we took our seats on the matted floor, filled our pipes anew, and, whilst a bowl of kava was being prepared, Li'o, the young chief told us about the advent of the ta~nifa. Let me first of all, however, explain that the ta~nifa is a somewhat rare and greatly-dreaded member of the old-established shark family.
Many natives, however particularly an old Rarotongan named Hapai, who lived in Apia, and was the proud capturer of several ta~nifa gave me a reliable description, which I afterwards verified.
A ta~nifa ten feet long, they assured me, was an enormously bulky and powerful creature with jaws and teeth much larger than an ocean-haunting shark of double that length; the width across the shoulders was very great, and although it generally swam slowly, it would, when it had once sighted its prey, dart along under the water with great rapidity without causing a ripple.
"There must be a ta~nifa cruising about, or else those Manono fellows wouldn't have been so scared at us wanting to cross."
This particular ta~nifa, which had been seen by the young Manono chief and his men on the preceding evening had made its appearance soon after darkness had fallen and had cruised to and fro across the mouth of the Vaivasa till the tide began to fall, when it made its way seaward through a passage in the reef.
The Ta~nifa of Samoa Many years ago, at the close of an intensely hot day, I set out from Apia, the principal port of Samoa, to walk to a village named Laulii, a few miles along the coast. Passing through the semi-Europeanised town of Matautu, I emerged out upon the open beach.
We had not long to wait barely half an hour when we heard a warning yell from the watchers. The ta~nifa was in sight.
Then suddenly the line fell slack, and the half-a-dozen men who were holding it went over on their backs, heels up. In mournful silence we hauled it in, and then, oh woe! the hook, our prized, our beautiful hook, was gone! and with it two feet of the chain, which had parted at the centre swivel. That particular ta~nifa was seen no more.
Then the second followed, and was also seized by the other ta~nifa. The creatures cruised about for some hours, then went off, as the tide began to fall. On the following evening they did not turn up, nor on the next; but the Malay insisted that within four or five days both would be dead.
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