Greatest sins of mankind (Part II)....
George and his party would start the hunting trip by watching the killer whales running the prey ragged and attacking them constantly. Once they have sufficiently tire it down, the hunters would then move in and start harpooning it from far, and then move even closer again to finish it off by repeating the stabbing motion just on top of the prey. As dictated by the 'Law of the tongue', the Orcas would take the prey away and then return with it to Eden, usually within 36 hours. This partnership of men and beast lasted for a long time, and the hunters treated the Orcas like their own families. The hunters would go out to the sea at the middle of the night to rescue the Orcas trapped in ropes when other members of the Orca party dropped by to inform George of the distress. There was immense trust between them, just like the trust between family members.
There was one incident in a particular hunting trip when one of the hunters, David, accidentally fell into the sea while trying to harpoon the prey. Despite the effort of the Orcas who dived deep down to look for him, they could not find him as it was pitch dark at night. The hunters returned to the same spot in the morning to look for David and discovered the Orcas were still there all the while. The hunters then dived to look for David's body but they could not find him after a week. They finally gave up and did not try again.... until Old Tom dropped by George's house and led him to the same spot again, but this time it kept circling round a particular area, and a final dive by the George revealed that David's body was trapped by some net. He cut it open and brought his body home. As it was with the whalers' traditions, David's body was brought out to the sea again to be buried in the open, escorted by Old Tom and several of its companions. This was unusual as the Orcas would not normally follow the boat out, but on that occasion it seemed to understand that they were forming the guard of honour for one of their deceased family members, who would never be back again..
A few years later, more European migrants came to settle in Australia and formed towns near Eden. One of the towns shared a beach with Eden, and killer whales were always spotted in the area hunting for preys. One fateful event occured when a killer whale was trying to corner a prey onto the beach, but instead it got stranded on the beach when the tide lowered. One ignorant migrant, seeing that there were two whales stranded on the beach (one of them the orca), decided to kill both of them for food. At the same time, the hunters from Eden saw the stranded orca on the beach and tried to get there to stop the man, but they were too late and the orca's blood was spilled onto the sea... The hunters then chased down the man and wanted to kill him to appease the killing of their family, but decided against it and instead drove him out of the town, never to let him return again....
There was one incident in a particular hunting trip when one of the hunters, David, accidentally fell into the sea while trying to harpoon the prey. Despite the effort of the Orcas who dived deep down to look for him, they could not find him as it was pitch dark at night. The hunters returned to the same spot in the morning to look for David and discovered the Orcas were still there all the while. The hunters then dived to look for David's body but they could not find him after a week. They finally gave up and did not try again.... until Old Tom dropped by George's house and led him to the same spot again, but this time it kept circling round a particular area, and a final dive by the George revealed that David's body was trapped by some net. He cut it open and brought his body home. As it was with the whalers' traditions, David's body was brought out to the sea again to be buried in the open, escorted by Old Tom and several of its companions. This was unusual as the Orcas would not normally follow the boat out, but on that occasion it seemed to understand that they were forming the guard of honour for one of their deceased family members, who would never be back again..
A few years later, more European migrants came to settle in Australia and formed towns near Eden. One of the towns shared a beach with Eden, and killer whales were always spotted in the area hunting for preys. One fateful event occured when a killer whale was trying to corner a prey onto the beach, but instead it got stranded on the beach when the tide lowered. One ignorant migrant, seeing that there were two whales stranded on the beach (one of them the orca), decided to kill both of them for food. At the same time, the hunters from Eden saw the stranded orca on the beach and tried to get there to stop the man, but they were too late and the orca's blood was spilled onto the sea... The hunters then chased down the man and wanted to kill him to appease the killing of their family, but decided against it and instead drove him out of the town, never to let him return again....
posted by leonhart @ 9:07 PM
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