MYSTERIOUS SERPENT

Southland Times, Issue 19492, 5 March 1925, Page 9

MYSTERIOUS SERPENT

AS BIG AS A SHIP SEEN AROUND THE FIJI GROUP GREAT MONSTER OF THE DEEP Rumours of the existence of a sea-ser-pent in the South Pacific have been heard in Auckland shipping circles as recently as the last twelve months (says the Star), and statements have been made about, an unknown monster of uncertain description being seen even on the New Zealand coast. But, apart from this, the sea serpent has never excited much interest in the Dominion, and its actual existence has been seriously doubted. In Fijian mythology, however, where there are many curious subjects of worship or veneration, there is a fish known to the natives as Dakuwaqa, which, literally interpreted, means “the back of a ship,” and thereby conveys some idea of the creature’s size. The Dakuwaqa is a sea monster of unknown species, which lurks in the waters around Fiji, and is greatly feared by the natives. Far to the east of Fiji a trader in the Paumotos Archipelago. Mr Ernest Davies, had an experience, when at anchor, of his vessel being approached by an unknown monster, which rubbed itself against it, and lifted its head, “not unlike that of a horse,” from the water, and finally disappeared. Occasionally the enormous fish has been known to reappear in certain areas near the central portion of the Fiji group, and, although practically all the Fijians are adherents of the church, some of the natives who travel in canoes or cutters still regularly throw an offering of kava or food into the sea as a sacrifice to the monster.

Sir John Maynard Hedstrom, Commissioner from Fiji to the British Empire Exhibition, states that the only authenticated case of an appearance of the Dakuwaqa to Europeans with whom he is acquainted happened a few years ago. It affords a curious parallel to Mr Davies’s story.

The cutter Annie was on a voyage from the Wainunu tea estate, on Vanu Levu, to Levuka, on the island of Ovalau, and, in addition to her native crew, had on board two European passengers. The wind fell very light, and the cutter was practically drifting along, some miles from the nearest island, when a great fish made its appearance near the surface.

The native crew immediately ceased work in terror, crying: “Dakuwaqa, Dakuwaqa.” The creature swam slowly to the cutter, and, having inspected it, sank a few feet below water, turned on its back, and then clasped each side of the vessel with its fins, which projected out of the water and above the bulwarks of the cutter. The monster’s embrace completely stopped the Annie’s progress, and the passengers noticed that it appeared to be rubbing its body against the keel, possibly to remove suckers or other parasites. One of the Europeans was a master mariner of many years’ experience in the Pacific; the other was a Sydney journalist. They both subsequently admitted a feeling of fear while the little vessel was held fast in the grip of the monster. The journalist and the master mariner told the story separately, and the two men’s accounts tallied exactly. Passengers and crew remained perfectly quiet whilst their ship was held by the Dakuwaqa, and after a few minutes the fish released his hold and dropped astern. From a few yards away he lifted his head well out of the water, calmly surveyed the cutter and its occupants, and then sank below the surface and disappeared. Both eye witnesses were somewhat diffident about making an estimate as to the length or weight of the fish. They described him as having “a head like a shark and a tail like a whale.” Whilst he held the cutter in his grasp his head projected beyond the bow and his tail beyond the rudder post, and he was of sufficient girth to enable him to embrace the vessel comfortably between his fins. After the Dakuwaqa had released the cutter the native captain, with great presence of mind, threw a root of kava overboard as an oblation, and muttered something in his native tongue.