In observance of the upcoming month of March, Chamorro month on Guam, we share this writing on Ancient Chamorro fishing.
Ancient Chamorros were excellent fishermen, both in deep sea and within the reef shallows. Fishhooks were made from pearl-shell. After contact with western cultures, they traded for iron nails, which they fashioned into more durable fishhooks.
Fishing lines were made from coconut fiber and pagu (wild hibiscus tree) fiber. Several types of nets made from pagu fiber were used, such as large dragnets (chenchulu), gill nets (tekken), and short hand nets (lagua).
Sinkers for the nets were made from rocks, and floats from puteng (Barringtonia asiatica) seeds.
Wooden spears, called fisga were used for shallow reef fishing (Cunningham, 1992: 33 Thompson, 1932: 46-9). Spear fishing was done in shallow water with a bone-tipped spear also called a fisga. Fishhooks described earlier were also made of turtle shell, or fishbone, and sometimes had a coral shank.
Night fishing in the lagoons was done with a torch that attracted the fish to the light where they could be speared. Underwater spearfishig took place in deeper water. A method of stunning fish by poisoning a tidal pool with ground puteng seed (Barringtonia asiatica) was probably used in times of emergency or scarcity.
A 1602 description of activities following a fishing expedition gives clues to the Chamorro rituals of daily life:
- ‘When these indios return from fishing, they display a signal symbolizing the catch; if they have caught a large fish, the banner is large. They go out in the morning and return at two o’clock. By that time, the fisherman comes ashore, four of his sons – provided they are old enough, if not, his brothers or his relative or his friends – immediately take his funei (canoe) out of the water and place it beneath a large boathouse that they have for that purpose. Consequently, their boats never remain in the water overnight. Shortly after he returns, the fisherman dives into the water and stays under for a short time. When he comes ashore, his closest friend brings him a large calabash filled with water and, with this, he washes from head to foot while his friend washes his back. After this, he very slowly walks home. In the cleanest spot beside his house, he spreads a well-washed clean woven mat and lays fresh palm fronds on it. On top of this, he places his blue marlin, or his mahimahi, or whatever fish he has cuaght, and begins to cut it open with a stone knife – though now they all use iron ones. As a special gift, he distributes the blood, entrails, fat, and intestines to the children who have carried the fish home for him and places the raw mass in their mouths. They enjoy this as much as children in Castile do when a large pig is slaughtered and their mother distributes the blood sausage among those at home and sends some to others outside. In like manner, these people slices pieces from the back of the fresh fish and send them to their neighbors. The remaining part of the fish is salted according to certain ritual procedures. One of these is that , after the fish has begun to take the salt well, the tie a long cord from the door to the palm tree approximately eight or ten bracas [equivalent to 1.67 meters] away. The indios will detour to the other side of the house when they see this sign because they know that there is fish being salted on the side where the cord has been strung (Druverm [1602] 1983: 209).
from Life in Ancient Inalahan , Estorian Inalahan, page 9
