Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1890-05-14


likes, Tor, with his mouth thus nxed In
an open position, the creature cannot
even make his escape by swimming
away, for the simple reason that he can
not swim. man must be very skillful in
the water to be able TO kill shark after
this method, as it requires the most
perfect self-possession to put the stick in
its proper position, and at the right mo-
ment.
On steamer on which | was once a
passenger, there was man who had
lost his right foot and went around with
q pair of crutches. He was a French
man who had gone to the East Indies in
his younger days, and was said to be
wealthy merchant in one OF the princi-
Lal ports of Asia. Naturally, the other
passengers were curious to know how
he lost his foot, and their curiosity was
all the greater, when, in answer to
question on the subject, he briefly
said:
sit was bitten off,"
He showed no intention of gratifying
their desire to learn more on the SUBJ
ject, until one afternoon, when the con-
versation had become interesting.
through the narration of adventures of
travel and hunting in various parts of
the world, something WIS said about
sharks, and it led to several stories,
some Of which were certainly a good
deal exaggerated. They seemed to
rouse the Frencbman, and when the
last narrator had paused our friend of
the crutches and single foot said:
'I'll tell you story about a shark [
had fight with, and he's the one that
bit off my foot"
OF course, we were all silent at once,
as everybody wanted to know how he
y i a. L. 1,k. l. Ill
us to remain SO for minute or two, and
then began:
about ten years ago went up to the
Persian Gulf, on pearl speculation,
along with country man from Bombay.
We had schooner loaded with an as
sorted cargo of the kind of goods suited
to the trade, and, as we were consider
ably In advance of the other specula-
tors, we did good business as long as
it lasted. The divers bring up the oys-
ters that contain the pearls, and then
heap them on the shore to rot: and such
stencil as these rotting oysters make
it would not be easy to match in any
other part of the world. When the
oysters are turned into a decaying, or
rather decayed mass, they are dumped
into a trough and washed through mems
fingers, and great care must be taken to
save the small pearls.
"But that hasn't anything specially to
do with the scoundrel that bit off my
foot. The sharks hung about the oyster
beds, and hardly day passed without
one being seen, and sometimes every
diver that went down reported one or
more. Several OF the man-eaters were
killed, and we began to think the
beds were free from them, as none had
been reported for two or three days.
sour schooner was anchored mile
or more from shore, as the water where
we were was very shallow, and, besides,
we were more convenient to the fisher
men than if we had been nearer to the
land. We went back and forth in
native boat, as We found it much cheap
er to hire one of these craft than to keep
part of a crew waiting to row US about.
It was not always easy to find boat
when we wanted it, but, on the whole,
we got along very we'll.
Zone afternoon my partner and l
were coming ashore, and had got
about midway from the schooner to the
land, when one of the boatmen sudden
ly called out that an enormous shark
was right ahead of us. He pointed in
the creatures direction, and my eyes
followed the motion of his finger. The
shark evidently saw the boat, and con-
Guided that he would get beneath it, on
the chance that something edible might
be dropped overheard.
"My curiosity got the better Of my
caution. | was so anxious to see the
great monster that | forgot that the
boat las very cranky, and the least mo-
ton from one siue to the other made an
upset quite possible. lost my balance
fore / was aware of it was in the water.
And right below me was that enormous
shark
"My head was covered with a sofa
topee or sun hat, one of those pith and
cloth contrivances worn by nearly every
European in Asia, and by no means un-
known in other parts of the world. 1t
came off my head as / touched the
water, or possible fell off just before
tumbled; anyway. it must have caught
the sharks eye before anything else, as
he went for it without moments hest
tation. He whiried on his back and
crunched the innocent hat between his
great jaws as you have seen dog
crunch chicken bone. He was not
long in discovering what poor article
of food it was, as he quickly turned
his attention from the hat to its OWL
er.
ST thought my last moment had come,
as was not an expert swimmer, and
besides was encr .nbered with my gar
ments, though the latter really made no
difference to man who could not move
more quickly than I in the water. l
made only one or two strokes with my
hands, before the shark seized me by
the foot and dragged me beneath the
surface.
"'A hundred pounds to the man who
saves him. my partner shouted to the
boatmen in their own language, in
which he was proficient.
GA hundred pounds to one of those
| boatmen would be like 1900 to any
body IN England or America. 1t was
| enough to take great risks to get it.
"Amodou, the chief of the boatmen.
| was skillful pearl fisher, and boosted
that he had killed many shark while
pursuing his occupation. The offer of a
| hundred pounds was stimulus that set
him in motion instantly, and hardly
were the words out of my partners
| mouth before the honest Amodou was
| over the side of the boat with his knife
| gripped between his teeth.
| s'In the clear water of the gulf he