The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-04-23
PREHISTORIC SHARKS.
FISHES OF THE TERTIARY PERIOD
I25 FEET IN LENGTH.

!
RED on al very early day-so very early.
in fact, that not the slightest proof remains,
or even a remnant Of the early Walton In
| geological maps of America, during what
is known az the tertiary age, we find IL oc-
/ cupying a much more restricted area than
I at present The southern states were
| largely under water. and Florida was but a
shoal beneath the waves. Where the At
/ iantic then tossed, and YVES carried this
way and that by currents, now Is found
\ dry land, covered with fertile fields
and supporting q large and vigor-
Gus human population; but that it
was once the bottom OF the tertiary
sea we have abundant testimony. That
man existed at this time there is little doubt.
though satisfactory evidence IN the shape
OF remains is extremely rare, and we can
but refer 70 the fauna and fora of tie
period 10 show that the assumption is at
least tenable. Man undoubtedly appeared
upon the globe when it was ready for his
occupation, or rather when the conditions
were all favorable for his support The
world in the tertiary time looked ve-y
much as it does at present, comparatively
| speaking. Trees, flowers, and animals
much ike those of to-day hourished, and
with them undoubtedly were found human
beings. Having assumed this, and knowing
the animals VIII ich were then living, we
may easily understand something Of the
habits Of our ancient ancestors
Large whales and fishes of all kinds are
| always Of great value to rude tribes. Their
| appliances are few and simple, and a lange
| animal not only provides them with food
but with clothing, weapons, and numerous
articles OF domestic use So we may as
sumo that tertiary men were fishermen,
and endeavoring to capture game, large
and small.
| In the immediate vicinity of Charleston,
5. c., fir ON the bottom of the riyer-bed
| have been taken the remains OF some sharks
so suggestive of gigantic size that the
| modern man-eater is dwarfed in COMPARE
son. The remains consist of teeth, huge
deviated specimens, in some instances
almost as large as a woman's hand-many
times larger than those found in large
| sharks of to-day. The writer once had the
curiosity to arrange a number of these
| teeth after the model of q modern shark
| and the result gave a fish large enough to
swallow horse entire. and as for length,
| l25 feet must have been the dimensions of
| these monsters
Ii shark fourteen feet long is sufficient
at the present day to scare any one, what
must have been the effect Of the appearance
or this tertiary giant! Like the great
whales it required deep water to float it,
and doubtless was only attacked when by
accident it became stranded on the shoals
| At such a time the fishermen may have put
| off in their rude crafts and aided in its cap
| ture, perhaps fastening it with cables and
driving logs of wood into its vulnerable
parts. To capture such monsters by any
| other means must have been impossible. The
| largest boats would hardly have withstood
| thestruggles that must have ensued after an
atte npt at capture by spear or harpoon,
| assuming even that such weapons were
| known. Once entrapped in shallow water
| we can imagine that the sight must have
been striking one; the enormous fish,
far more active in this condition than a
whale, beating the water with blows of its
| powerful tail, making frantic and mighty
| PUSHES this way and that, Swapping the great
cables like threads, capsizing the rude boats
and spreading terror and destruction every
where. Such efforts at escape naturally
! would exhaust the strength of so powerful
an animal and force it farther In
shore, and ultimately destroy it. Then
comes the cutting-up process. The pews of
| the capture was carried inland, and hun
| dreds of natives came down to the shore to
secure their share. From caves, brush
houses, and the rudest retreats they swarm
| ed, armed with rude implements of various
| kindS-clubs OF wood and stone, and dag
gers of flint and other hard substances.
Clothed in skins, or perhaps not clothed a5
all, this rude people must have presented a
| strange appeara .ce. We hear of our mod
ern savages wallowing in the blood of
whales which they have captured, and
! delighted in the butchery; and undoubtedly
these early men were no exceptions, and the
| scene OF the capture was a literal slaughter.
| A man to one of these mighty sharks
| would be almost unnoticeable, and we can
| imagine that such huge creature must
have been upon continual forage to ap-
! pease its appetite. A moderate-szed whale
would have been legitimate prey. as our
ordinary man-eaters of to-day have been
known TO swallow nearly an entire horse
| AT this time many strange creatures
thronged the ocean, and doubtless animal
life was made much more profuse than at
| present.
The writer once hooked shark about
fourteen feet in length. The brute was
towing the heavy boat at steamboat speed
through the water-my man crouching in
the stern, which was high in air. while
was engaged at the bow in keeping the line
in the notch, a slip from which would have
| tipped US over. We had rushed up the
channel for about half a mile at this
pace, when l CHANGED to glance over
board, and there, about ten feet from
the surface, were half dozsn man
| eaters of the largest siZs swim
|
| determined to see what became of their
friend. The appearance of these huge
fishes, moving along so swiftly, and with
such little exertion. had an extremely dis
agreeable impression upon me-one that
never fully recovered from-as have never
enjoyed sea bathing since, even In northern
| waters. The attendant sharks, l Judged,
were from ten to thirteen feet In length,
and the exact size of the monster that
towed us we never determined, as he finally
| g capped.
II these modern man-eaters are so fornid-
| able, what must have been the scene pre-
sented when dozen or more of the ancient
giants were swimming about, dashing here
and there in search of prey, turning upon
! their backs, exposing a mouth cavernous in
| its immensely, and armed with row after
] row of the enormous teeth which we have
as legacieS of their greatnessl Like many
of the great animals of the time, these
sharks must have entirely passed away, be-
| ing represented by similar but smaller
| forms. That they existed in immense num-
bers ana were the kings and marauders Of the
ocean world we have abundant evidence. The
various expeditions sent out by England,
| France. and Italy have dredged their huge
| teeth from the deep waters of the Atlantic
and Pacific, which retained their luster as
perfect as il they had been taken from the
sharks of to-day. In South Carolina, at the
L