Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-12-16

r
! ious TO provide him with prompt sepul-
| chre within their own yearning maws
At such a time az this the presence
| OF man i'm the water. right In the midst
| OF the hungry host. passes unnot.ced By
| them az long az he Is upon the surface
| and I'm motion. Among the islands, while
engaged In the "humpbacked" whale fish
| cry, the natives were continually In
! and out Of the water alongside where the
| sharks swarmed ihnumerable but we
never saw or hard Of one being bitten.
| And some OF those sharks were OF the
most enormous dimensions-approa
a length Of thirty feet and Of bulk al
most equal to one OF our whale-boats.
| with that unerring instinct for spoil
| Characteristic OF the sharks, they begin
| 10 congregate in these seas almost con-
| tempOraneoUsly with an attack upon a
whale by whale fishers. Now, one OF the
| most frequent experiences in this perilous
| trade Is that of a "stove" boat, necessi-
| tating a subsequent sojourn In the sea
protected-sometimes for hours. IN
der such circumstances-and they have
many times fallen TO my share-I am free
TO confess that l have always had a
curious feeling about my legs as If they
were much too long, and whenever any
thing touched them a sympathetic thrill
Of apprehension would run up my spine,
but my legs are still of the usual length.
Nor did I ever hear Of a man being at
tackled in the water at such times.
A TRUCE WITH MAN.
In fact. it is an article Of faith with
whalemen that sharks have sufficient in
telligence to know that the human hunt
ers OF the whale are busily providing a
feast for them. and that therefore truce
Is then rigidly observed between them;
for although the ravenOus creatures cam
not refrain from attempting TO sample the
blubber in stu, their opportunity arrives
when the mountainous mass Of reeking
meat stripped of its external coating or
fat. IS cut adrift from the ships side and
allowed to float away. Then do they at
tack IL In their thousands, and In an in
credlbly short time reduce ii 10 a cleanly-
picked skeleton, since even their prowess
rs not equal 10 devouring the enormous
framework Of bone. But what they are
capable of In the way Of feeding may be
Judged from the fact that a hump-backed
whale Of about eighty tons in weight
which sank, after we had killed hlm' IN
about ten fathoms Of water, and which we
were unable TO raise for six hours TOT
want OF suitable gear. was so reduced In
size bv the time we lifted him 10 the. sur
face again as not 10 be worth towing TO
The ship. In those latltudes-i. e., among
the South Pacific Tslands-are. l believe,
IN he found the largest sharks in the
world. certainly the largest or those Vora-
cious kind that 50 ably fill the office OF
sea-scavengers Very large specimens or
the baskng shark, some nearly 81 feet
long and OF much greater girth than the
ordinary ones. have been found IN our
own seas. but these unwieldy creatures
are as harmless as whales and quite as
-iroid Sharks Of the size / have mention
"a as Astounding IN the South Pacific have
often seven rows OF teeth ranked behlnd
each other. only the first row were erect;
the others lay fiat. as if ready to replace
d sudden loss Of those in use. But, AFTER
watching their operations upon pieces Oh
"kreug." | am bound TO say that swal-
lowing a man whole, even by the largest
Of them. appears to me an utterly impos-
sible feat.
THE SHARKS STRUCTURE.
Another REGULARITY of the shark is that
their colossal bodies are built upon
framework OF cartilage, not bone. Tms
may POSSIBLY account for their complete
recovery from the most funda-
mental injuries. l once caught an eight
foot-long shark in the North Atlanuc,
whose appearance suggested nothing OUT
OF the common. But. having a desire
dear to sailors a walklng-stick OF a
sharks backbone, | went to the trouble
OF extracting the spine. l found, 10 my
amazement that i'm the middle Of II there |
was not only a solid mass Of bone OF
over q foot long, but IL was at this place
quite double the normal thickness. Fur |
Their investigation revealed the fact that |
az some period Of his career this creature |
had been transhXed by harpoon which |
had torn out, nearly severing his BODY |
i'm halves. Several of the ribs were |
reknit. and thickened In the same way. |
This splendid recuperative power renders |
the shark almost invulnerable. except. as
before noticed, TO a direct severing of
the brain. or such a radical dismem- |
berment as looping off the tail.
Slothfulness Is a distinctive feature or |
all the sharks. They are able 10 put on |
spurt at times, but want Of energy char
acterizes them all. This habit reaches It's
climax I'm the remora. As If in the pursu-
ance Of widely held opinion that lazy
people are the most prolific inventors, this |
small squalus has evolved an arrangement
on the top OF his head whereby he can
attach himself TO any floating body and
be carried along without effort on his
part. All the functions are easily perform
ed during attachment, and nothing short
Of doing damage TO the fish will dislOdge
him. II Is fairly well known that the chi
n.Sa and Fest African folk have utilized
the rrmora for catching turtle IN "a most
ingenious way. More energetic than any
other sharks are the sawish. whose
shouts are prolonged into a broad blade
of cartilage. which is horizontal when the
fish IS swimming in a normal position,
and has both its edges set with slightly
curved teeth about an inch apart. The
end Of the formidable-loOking weapon Is
blunt and comparatively soft so that 1t
Is quite incapable Of the feats popularity !
a attributed 20 IL OF piercing whales
bodies. ships timbers. etc. IL attacks
other fish by swift lateral thrust Of the
saw beneath them. the keen edge disem-
bowelling them. Then II feeds upon the
soft entrails. which are apparently the
only food II can eat. from the peculiar
shane Of its mouth. 1t has an enormous
number OF small teeth, sometimes as
many as fifty rows in one Individual but
they are evidently unnt for the rough
luties required OF their teeth by the gar
bage-eating members Of the family
THE YOUNG OF THE SHARK.
Another popularity which differentiates
he Squalidae from all other fish. and
you'd seem TO link them with the mann
MALTA. is the way in which they produce
ne r Young Put here arise such diyersi-
les as to puzzle the student greatly, for
ONE sharks are Niviparous, bearing fif-
cen sharklets at once. that play about
he mother in the liye!iest manner and
re cared for by her with the utmost So
Icitude At the approach OF danger they
II rush 10 the parent and hurry down her
hroat hiding In some snug chamber till
heir alarm has subsidized. when they
merge again and Immediately recon-
hence their gambols. The pretty little