Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-07-17
ALL ABOUT SHARKS.
Ravenous Character Of the White ant
Hammer Headed Varieties.

OF a trOOp-Shlp In the harbOr OF Sierra
Leone was drawn into the water and
promptly devoured by a shark. Tais
is not an uncommon experience and
the Standard reminds us that a boat.
man has been bitten in the short time
it took him to dip up a pitcher of
water while his craft was under full
sail We are assured that it is moth
ing uncommon for the ravenous fish to
spring q foot out of the sea in order to
secure their prey. For miles they will
follow vessel, on the lookout for any
stray unfortunate who may tumble or
be thrown overheard. aud SO deep do
they swim under the surface that it re-
quires the practiced eyes of the natives
to detect their presence M any of the
West India harbors are SO haunted by
the white and hammer headed sharks
the least araiable of the one hundred
and fifty different kinds known to oo-.
ologists-tha5 it is dangerous to battle
even a few yards from the shore with
out an outlook being posted.
Yet the West African negro has been
known to face the brute, not only with
impunity, but even to come off as vic
tor in the end. All but amphibious.
the swimmer cautiously approaches
his enemy, and then, just at the mo-
ment when the great fish turns over to
seize him-his m outh being SO placed
that it is necessary-the daring black
plunges his knife into it's white belly.
The pearl-divers are also sometimes
which try to seize them, though, it is
needless to add, such a mode of combat
is possible only when the monsters do
not come in numbers, and under the
most favorable circumstances requires
a GOODNESS, dexterity and courage
which are not to be acquired except
by long experience in such periaous
encounters. As rule, however. it is
seldom that man who is so luckless
as to drop among sharks ever appears
again. There is shrek, white out
look is seen under the surface and fin
above it, a Redeemed crest tops the next
swell which breaks against the ships
side, and the horror-stricken seamen
know that their messm ate will be seen
no more.
1t is we'll ascertained fact that the
skeletons of sheep, pigs, dogs and cat
tie which had fallen or been thrown
overheard have been recovered many
days subsequent to their being swal-
lowed; and it is on record that in the
stomach of a shark killed in the Indian
ocean a lady's work-box was found,
while in another the discriminatory
papers which had been thrown away
by hotly-chased SLAYER were recov-
cred from the NAV of an involuntary
witness thus curiously brought into
court on the barb of pork-baited
hook. Ruysch, one of the most trust
worthy of the old naturalists, aft rms
that man in mail-homo loricatus,
he calls him-was found in the stom-
ach of white shark; and it is record
ed by Blumenbach that in one case
whole horse was found. It is undenia-
BILE that many have been killed with
ample capacity for such undesirable
contents; and Basil Hall tells of one
out of which was taken the whole skin
of buffalo, besides a host of other
trifes which had been dropped astern
in the course of the previous week.
Sailors are full of superstitions
which touch the superhuman sagacity
and incarnate fiendishness of this fish
how, its senses being acute far be-
yond what we can have any idea of, it
will follow ships for days when death
is likely to occur, and desert the wake
of othe vessel when no such good
fortune for it is in the wind. Vatea,
the shark god, is the lord of the ocean
in the Hervey island mythology, and it
is whispered that even the Chris
tianized Hawaiians will still, when in
the direst extremity, invoke Mooaru,
the shark demon, to whom their pagan
forefathers erected temples and Of
fered sacrifice. The pearl divers
of Ceylon employ shark charmers
to protect them while engaged
in their dangerous work. Marco
Polo speaks of these officials under the
name of the abramani, who received
as wages a twentieth of the divers
gains. At the present day they are
called haibandi or shark binders and
| as the divers would not enter the
waters without being certain of their
services the chief operator receives
government subsidy of ten oysters per
diem. The Tahitians deifed the blue
shark under the name of ''Aukua
maoo." dedicating it to shrines and
priests, and in West Africa rabbits are
sacrificed to y ohm. while. if not sharp
ly watched, it has been affirmed that
some of the tribes about the Niger del
ia will, at fixed times. bind child dec
Grated with flowers to post on the
beach at low tide and leave it to be
devoured by the sharks which come in
with the flow. drowning it's cries with
the noise of drums. Newcastle (Eng.)
Chronicle.