The man with the harpoon was hunting the behemoth in the sea, and this giant beast was nothing but a daunting whale.
In the waters of the western Pacific Ocean, home to some of the richest marine life on earth, the La Mallera people who inhabit it are better at surviving in the sea than ordinary people.
These dark-skinned Lamarara are hunters in the sea, but their targets are not ordinary fish, but the whales, the lords of the sea hundreds of times larger than humans, who are the last whalers in the world's opposition to the killing of whales.
The village of La Mallera sits on the southern shore of the small island of Lambata in the Indonesian archipelago, between an active volcano and a deep trench.
When reporter Will had just set foot on the village's land, villager Bertola introduced him to the whale skeleton at the entrance of the village, which the villagers believed could withstand the invasion of bad people.
Will had whale meat for his first dinner here, but it didn't taste good, and the meat was so hard that Will chewed it a little harder, but tomorrow Bertola was going to take him to catch a big fresh whale.
The village of La Marera has a population of just over 2,000, and it was not until 10 years ago that there were roads and electricity in recent years.
Every year from May to August, when the La Marera people go fishing, there are only 41 handmade sailing boats in the village, and every morning the men have to search for food on the slopes of the active volcano before going to sea.
The land of La Marera is barren and lifeless, and one can only shift their gaze from land to the resource-rich ocean, where there is a deep trench 3200 meters offshore, which is also the easiest place to find whales.
As an experienced whaler, Bettaula hired 5 crew members to work with him on whaling, and they prayed prayers for all the best before each voyage.
Will and Bertola rushed out into the sea in such a small boat, and just a hundred meters out of the sea, a huge tuna was fluttering in the sea, and the crew immediately boiled over, and their first prey had appeared.
As a harpooner, Aloisius was very stressed, there were no fishing nets and fishing lines here, he could only rely on a bare harpoon to prick the incomparably flexible fish in the sea, and the people of a boat had to rely on him to support their families.
After nearly two hours of aimless searching, Will again hears the excited cries of the crew, this time, Aloysius' harpoon hit the target with a quick and accurate shot, and the large manta ray that was punctured struggled desperately, but still could not escape the fate of being captured.
After 6 hours out to sea, the fishermen did not catch a whale, Bettaula returned to the village with the only booty, the body of the manta ray would be cut into many pieces, and the kind Lamara would distribute the booty to every hero, from the person who made the harpoon to the fisherman, the manta ray would be divided among 4 or 50 people.
Aloisius' whaling experience is both thrilling and wonderful, they have been pulled into the deep water by whales 6 times during whaling, and the three shipwrights can only rely on grabbing a bamboo floating on the sea to find the ship, for this dangerous and life-threatening experience, Aloisius has long been accustomed to this dangerous and life-threatening experience, these dangers are only part of the life of the Ramallera people.
Aloisius had caught 81 sperm whales, one whale could feed the people of a village, and as the only fisherman, Aloisius was responsible for the food of the whole village, and if the whales could not be caught, then the whole village would have to go hungry.
In response to Aloetius' mistake of not catching a tuna, Bertola decided to replace Aloethius as a fisherman, and Lofinius began fishing at the age of 12, and his father died after being hit in the head by the tail of the fish.
Early the next morning, Will set sail again with the crew, and not long after they set out they caught a manta ray, which had been scratching Rofennis's thumb with a fierce struggle, and he could only cover the wound with tobacco.
With no other harvest, the crowd reluctantly returned to the village, and Lofennis was disappointed by today's harvest, a manta ray could not feed the people of a village, and he had to catch whales to just enough food for 2,000 people.
In the last three weeks before the end of the whaling season, the sperm whale was finally seen, and the fishermen of the village set out to hunt the whale together.
However, the whaling campaign had just begun, and the alert sperm whale first threw the two boats approaching it into the sea, and the fishing hands in the core position plunged into the water with forks, and the surrounding sea suddenly turned blood red.
Just then, Will saw another huge whale rapidly approaching not far away, and when one whale was injured, its companions would rush over to help it, and although all the boats began to chase the whale, they let it slip away.
As is customary, whoever hits the whale with a harpoon has ownership of the whale, but whales weighing dozens of tons can drag boats around the sea even if they are injured, so a second boat must be used to assist in fishing, and only after the whales are exhausted can they bring them back to the village.
The behemoth could no longer struggle, and the last fisherman to assist was obliged to kill the whale, and the surviving whale would wave its tail to survive, and if unfortunately hit by the whale's tail, it would pose a fatal danger.
Will was horrified by this scene, he had never seen such a spectacular and barbaric hunting behavior of humans, in order to survive, they had to summon up the courage to hunt such a huge beast, when facing the whale, they did not hesitate or panic, and every fisherman was extremely eager to jump to catch the prey.
Fishermen bring the severed spinal cord of the whale back to shore, and it won't be long before it's eaten by the people of the village.
After dawn, there are 5 carcasses of sperm whales lying on the shore, each more than 10 meters long, and the fishermen have a good harvest.
The sun and heat will quickly make the fish rot, and before the time comes, people will begin to divide the various parts of the whale, and every part of the whale's body will not be discarded, from the ribs to the heart, from the head to the tail, it will be distributed to everyone who contributes to the killing of the whale.
Will receives an invitation to dinner from Aloisius, and during the quiet supper time, Will talks about how he felt about participating in the process of killing whales, and as the whales tumbled next to his ship, he felt the oppressive force of the huge ancient creatures, and he admired the courage and perseverance of every whaler.
On the third day after the whaling operation, the village's fishing boats went on a rampage, taking advantage of the whale activity to go to sea repeatedly, this time catching dolphins, manta rays and new whales, which were sold to China's pharmaceutical industry at high prices.
The history of sperm whale hunting has been in this water for 500 years, and although only 20 whales are killed on average every year, the Ramalera people are still condemned by the outside whale lovers, and the Ramalera people feel very helpless about these accusations, unlike commercial whaling, their purpose is only to survive.