They were the last whale hunters in the South China Sea, killing five 10-meter-long sperm whales in one day to feed the entire village of 2,000 people.
On a small Indonesian island called Lambata, a group of La Mallera people live, and despite their remote location, they have been connected to modern people a decade ago, and the road has been built and electrified. However, it rarely rains here, and the soil is poor and impossible to cultivate, so the villagers still live a traditional life of relying on the sea to eat the sea.
Every year from May to August is their fishing season, because this is when whales gather in this area, and the sea surface is calm and calm, which is very beneficial for fishing.
However, the Ramalleras have not caught a whale for a month, and they only have three weeks left to hunt the best time to whaling. There are a total of 2,000 people in the village, but there are only 20 truly capable harpooners left, and they carry the hope of survival of the whole village.
In this era of global disdain for whaling, they still have to endure the soul torture of people from all over the world, whales are on the verge of extinction, why do you still want to hunt? To this, the old hunter can only helplessly answer that this is a life and death choice.
The Ramallera people regard the sea as their mother, and the whale is the gift of the mother of the sea and the blessing of the people. They would pile huge whale skeletons at the entrance of the village, believing that this would deter the bad guys who trespassed, while at the same time driving away evil spirits and blessing future generations. Of course, it is also a symbol of glory as a traditional hunter.
The British brother stayed at a captain's house, and the first dinner of the day tormented his values. In the face of this bowl of whale meat rice bowl, the little brother hesitated, but in order to gain the trust of the locals, he still tasted it hard. Looking at the unconcealed expression on his face, it is not difficult to know that the taste is not very good, and the little brother describes it as chewing a piece of leather boots. The captain informed him that the few whale meat left in the house had been in place for more than a month, and if he did not catch it again, he would starve.
The arrival of the brother seemed to have given the villagers good luck, and the hunters learned that the squid bait had been eaten by whales, which meant that a group of strange whales had come to the sea. As the fishing season drew to a close, they did not dare to slack off in the slightest, and the next day the hunters of the whole village headed for the sea.
The two boats formed a hunting squad, led by motor boats and towed by traditional oar boats. Every time they go to sea, everyone has a clear division of labor, some driving boats, some scooping water, and some hunting. The brother's ship belongs to the latecomer, and there are already 20 fleets of whales in the process of circling. On the endless sea, ships are like a leaf, in danger of being swallowed up at any time.
Not far from them, a mermaid war was taking place. A whale was frightened and in a panic overturned a small boat, and the crew could only float on the ruins and rescue themselves.
The other boat implicated had to adapt, and the harpooner standing at the bow was under enormous pressure. But without the slightest hesitation, he lifted the harpoon and projected it at the whale, not simply throwing the harpoon, but pressing all his gravity on the harpoon, and the whole body was thrown down, at that moment, the hunter and the harpoon became one, and the hunter was the weapon.
After a white splash of water, it was confirmed that the harpooner had stabbed the whale, followed by a tug-of-war with the injured whale. The 20-ton sperm whale will drag two boats and struggle underwater until they are exhausted and die of excessive blood loss.
According to the tradition of the La Mallera people, the first hunter to hit the harpoon had absolute rights to the whale, and the captain who led the brother was not to be outdone, they were pursuing a whale called a parrot, which was like the guardian angel of the sperm whale, and when the sperm whale was killed, the parrot whale would come to their rescue. However, whether it is a sperm whale or a parrot whale, the captain has repeatedly lost his hand as a harpoon hand today, which makes him very upset. For the good of the collective, he had to have the more experienced HarpoonEr Two replace him.
Whales jump around the surface of the sea, followed by boats. When the prey is within range of the hunt, the crew will paddle the tugboat closer, which is the hunting tradition of the La Mallera people.
While subduing a sperm whale usually requires two harpoons, captains miss too many opportunities to share the spoils by assisting other ships. Harpooner Number two stood at the bow of the ship engrossed and on standby.
It had been four hours since leaving the coast, and the crew had gradually lost confidence. But the food was not far away to tempt them, and in order to survive the next few months, everyone struggled hard for the final battle. Seeing that the harpooner in front had fired the first shot, the entire ship was dragged by whales, and the crew advanced at full speed, ready to deliver a fatal blow. In the urging of everyone, the second harpooner struck decisively, and the whale finally could not swim and flipped over at once.
The shipwrecked whales struggled for the last time on the side of the boat, flooding with bright red waters. The hunter cut off the whale's spine with a machete, ending its life.
The fleet raised its sails and triumphed with the spoils of war. But as you can see from the footage, these people aren't as excited as they might think, they're just trying to survive, like we went to a supermarket.
But in fact, they also paid a huge price for it. The smiling fisherman in front of him was named Marcel, and when he was still in his mother's belly, his father died unexpectedly. During a fishing trip, the father was hit in the back of the neck by the tail of a large fish, and when he caught it, he stopped breathing forever, and in honor of her husband, the mother continued to use his name to her son.
The next day is harvest day, and five sperm whales lie calmly on the beach, waiting for the tribesmen to distribute, and the harpooners will cut proportionally.
The head of the fish was dedicated to the village chief, the back was given to the shipbuilder, the first boat to attack had the heart, and the tail was the most precious part, given to those who jumped into the sea to kill the whales, as a reward for their desperation.
Traditionally, orphans and widows left behind by the shipwrecked crew should be shared.
Villagers who are not involved in the hunt can also get a piece of the pie, and they can get a corresponding reward by cutting, handling and washing.
Before the global ban on whaling, commercial hunting had been carried out in this area for more than five hundred years, and although the La Marellarians hunted 20 whales a year just to survive, they still had to bear great pressure from the outside world, and many young people chose to leave the village, where they lived for decades, plundered and ruled, who was responsible for their disappearance.