The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-06-23
Our 0oliO.
About Sharks.

why they are SO is not generally consider
ed. We will go q little into the matter
The shark, fish of the family ,SgualidG
when quite in its infant state, and only a
few inches in length, exhibits a pugnacity
almost without parallel for his age. HC
will attack fish two or three times larger
than himself or, if caught, and placed fol
observation on the deck of vessel, he re
sents handling, and, with unerring preci
sion, strikes finger placed on almost any
part of his body.
Two things contribute to the shark 4
determinate iierceness. In the first place
We may refer to his teeth, for of these
engines of destruction Nature has been
to him particularly bouatiful; and this
species Of bounty he has a peculiar pleas
ure in exercising. If he could speak, he
would probably tell US that, besides being
troubled with his teeth, which he could
not helf keeping in use, he had been gifted
with enormous abdominal viscera, and
that, more particularly, third of his body
is occupied by spleen and liver The bile
and other digestive juices which are
seereted from such an immense apparatus,
and poured continually into the stomach,
tend to stimulate appetite prodigiously
and what hungry animal with good teeth
was ever tender-hearted? Ia truth, a
sharks appetite can never be appeased,
for, in addition to this bilious diathesis,
be is not careful masticator, but, heartily
boiling his food, produces thereby not
only the moroseness Of indigestion, but a
whole host of parasites, which goad as
well as irritate the intestines to that degree
that the poor squalus is sometimes quite
beside himself for the torment, and rushes,
like blind Polyphemus, through the
waves in search Of anything to cram down
his nav that may allay such urgent dis
tress. He does not seek TO be cruel, but
is cruelty famished at is not /, cx-
postuiates the man in the crowd ''that is
pushing; it is others behind me-" The
poor wretch must satisfy, not only his own
ravenous appetite, but the constant demand
of these internal parasites, either with dead
or living food; and therefore it is that, sped
as from a catapult, he pounces on quarry,
and sometimes gorges himself beyond what
he is able to contain.
Having said thus much of the rapacious
habits Of the SquaLiCle, We would have it
remembered that every mans hand is
against them, and that no tortures are
considered too severe to intict upon them
when caught. If they are relentless to
man aud every living thing around them,
their Unsuitable appetite renders them
equally destructive to their own species,
aud we of the white population Of this
globe ought to recollect, with some show
Of gratitude, that they always prefer an
African to a European; for, although they
are fond of men of any color, a negro is to
them as the choicest venison. CONNER
son tells us that one Of the atrocious
amusements practised on board slave-ships
was to suspend a dead negro from the
bowsprit, in order TO watch the efforts of
the sharks TO reach him, and this they
would sometimes effect at height of more
than twenty feet above the level of tho sea.
Wonderful are the tales that sailors tell of
the various things that have been found in
shark stomach, and it was thought that
any substance that would enter its mouth
was at all times acceptable. The follow
ing, which details cruel trick, MS described
in the Glasgow Observer, dispels this illu-
sion; Looking over the bulwarks of the
schooner, writes correspondent to this
journal, 81 saw one Of those watchful
monsters winding lazily backward and for
ward like long meteor sometimes rising
till his nose disturbed the surface, and a
gushing sound like a deep breath rose
through the breakers; at others. resting
motionless on the water, as if listening TO
our voices, and thisting for our blood.
As We were watching the motions of this
monster, Bruce "a little lively negro, and
my cook suggested the possibility of de-
stroying it. This was briefly to heat a
tre-brick in the stove, wrap it up hastily
in some old greasy cloths, as a sort of dis.
guise, and then TO heaye it overheard.
This was the work Of few minutes; and
the effect was triumphant. The monster
followed after the kissing prey. We saw
it dart at the brick like a fash of light
ming, and gorge it instanter. The shark
rose to the surface almost Immediately,
and his uneasy motions soon betrayed the
success Of the maneuvre. His agonies
became terrible; the waters appeared as if
disturbed by violent squall, and the spray
was driven over the taff-rail where we
stood, while the cleaning body of the fish
repeatedly burst through the dark waves,
as if writhing with fierce AID terrible con-
WILSON'S Sometimes we thought we heard
a shrill, believing cry, as if indicative of
anguish and rage, rising through the
gurgling waters. His fury, however, was
soon exhausted; in short time the sounds
broke away into distance, and the agitation
of the sea subsidized. The shark had given
himself up to the tides, as unable to strug-
gle against the approach of death, and
they were carrying his body unresistingly
TO the beach"
Crouch, in his Fishes of the British
Islands" would indirectly claim some
apology for the habits of tbe shark tribe,
in reference to which he asks why the lion
and the eagle should occupy the elevated
places they do in popular estimation, as
the king Of beasts and monarch of the air.
They live by the exercise Of powers simi-
lar to those Of the sharks, aud if Unsuitable
appetites are to take precedence, sharks
ought to stand in the foremost rank.
The appearance of sharks occasionally
upon our coast naturally creates certain
panic among bathers, and we may trace
the breakago of the nets Of our fishermen
TO their presence, among other causes.
The six-gilled shark, or gray shark, is
sometimes eleven or twelve feet in length
and is very destructive among the pil.
chards on the Cornish coast. The white
shark is formidable fellow; but although
his class occasionally send over to our isles
deputations Of one or two, we have. forth.
nately, not had to record Of late years such
visitation as that of 1885, when hundreds
appeared in the British Channel. This
individual is, perhaps, the most formidable
ofall the inhabitants of the ocean. Ruyscb
II