The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-06-07

for moment alarmingly near the boat
there was snap of the huge jaws, and ht
was free. With cuteness uncommon il
so stupid an animal, he found his way
past the wire rope to the hempen cord
and had fairly bitten it in two. hope
this conclusion in conclusive" has not
been as disappointing to the reader as il
was to our fishing party.
On one occasion l was fishing for
schnapper off the South Head, outside
Botany Bay, when a shark Of the like
enormous dimensions was pleased to sta
ton himself alongside of the whale boat
from which was fishing. We were an
chored some thirty yards from the rocks,
and there was fine school of schnapper
between us and the shore, just where the
''under-tow" met the bait when carried
inward by the roll of the sea. The sort
of sport 1 had that day may be guessed
from the fact that, besides the ample
stock of mullet and yellOw-tail with
which we started, kingfsh of thirty
pounds weight, whom l had caught on
my way down the harbor, was actually
used up for bait before l struck work.
The strange thing was that the vicinity
of so large shark did not scare the
schnapper away; he lay, however, very
quiet, only once condescending to take
fine fish off my hook, and leave me barely
the head. l was assured by friend
that well-known shark in Sydney Har
Dor, of almost fabulous size, on one &C.
casion took nineteen schnapper in sue
cession from him, biting them off close to
the shoulder, without ever taking the
hook into his mouth. So l might con-
slider myself we'll used. But after seeing
scores of fish hauled struggling up full in
his view, this fastidious giant at length
took fancy to my morsel OF bait,
dropped too near the boat. l hooked him
as one sometimes hooks large pike with
the paternoster, just in the lip, so that he
could not bite the line. But when felt
(as speedily did what had got hold
of, heartily wished he had carried my
hook off at once. To manage such a
creature, even with the stoutest of schnap
per lines, was, of course, out of the ques-
ton. Had he made rush from the
boat, should at once have cut the line;
but, instead of doing this, he kept NOV
ing up and down close to us, as if lOath to
leave pleasant neighborhood, so l was
ashamed to cast him loose. There was
nothing for it but to throw my whole
strength into the dead pull, and wait till
something gave way. He continued his
lazy cruise to and fro, now rising enough
in the water to make his whole outline
trightfully visible, now gradually disap-
pearing, like Alice's Cheshire cat. Twas
heartily tired of my job in ten minutes;
but when half an hour had passed, and
the tackle still held, I began to indulge
vain dreams, which I now see to have
been utterly absurd, of getting him with
in reach of the lance, and trying DIR.
SangradO's treatment on him. Once l
actually handed the line overt the boat
man, the enemy was for a few seconds
almost within reach of prod, but again
he bored heavily down, and l resumed
my weary task. For full fifty minutes
did that shark make my life burden to
me, and felt it real relief when at
length my hook gave way, nearly cap
sizing me, but leaving me free to resume
my schnapper fishing. These very large
sharks will occasionally, in hot weather,
venture into very shallow water. There
was, dozen years ago, wooden jetty
(now utterly decayed carried out some
three hundred yards from the hotel
grounds at Botany into the bay, and ter
minating in fight of steps for bathers
or boating parties. walked out to these
steps one evening, to see if they were in
order for lady to battle from, and, as |
neared the jetty's end, noticed curious
object, like sharp, black stick standing
endwise out of the water. Like the tail
of the lion at Northumberland House
recently improved AWAIT wagged,
it certainly wagged, cutting the water in
most unaccountable manner On
near approach found it to be the back
fin of huge shark London Field.