The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-03-13

ant has hit that big fellow there in the
eye or the soft skin behind the leg;
anyhow, he has got il hard. Look
how he is roaring and flashing his tail"
What is the best way Of killing
Them" Dick asked.
Il have heard, sir, that II Africa the
natives bait big hook with lump CT
pork, or something of that sort; then,
when an alligator has swallowed it :Hey
haul him up, holus bolus. | should say
a good plan to kill them would be with
'tricity. The last ship 1 was in, we lGd
an officer of the marine artillery who
knew about such things, AID he put a
big cartridge into a lump of pork with
two wires, and as soon as the stark
had swallowed it he would touch a
spring or something, ani there would
be an explosion There was not as
much fun in it as having hook, but
it was quicker, and he did not do it for
sport, but because he hated the sharks.
l heard say that he had a young broth
er killed by one of them. He would
| sit there on the taffrail for hours on
! the lookout for them, with three or four
! loaded Jumps of pork. Why, l have
known him to kill as many as a dozen
! in day. 1 expect the best part of
his pay must have gone in dynamite
He had narrow escape one day;
somehow the thin went wrong, and
in trying to set it right he fell over
the taffrail. The shark had bolted the
bait, but this was not enough for his
appetite, and he went straight at the
officer. He had young ensign sitting
beside him, who had often watched
his work and knew I "a the thing went
1 was standing near at the time, and
he began twisting some screws and
things, Just as cool as a cucumber
though l could see as his hand shook
bit. Well, he got it right just in time,
for the shark was not half a length
away from the captain, and was turn
ing himself over for a bite when the
thing went off, and there was an end
of the shark. The captain was a bit
shaken up, but he made a grab at the
rope, and held on to it till we lowered
a boat and picked him up. He had
to be got up on deck in a chair, and it
was two or three days before he was
himself again. When he got round he
set to work again more earnestly than
ever; and 1 believe that if we had
stopped in the West Indies long enough !
there would not have been a shark left |
in those waters
1T was a capital plan, Davis, and if |
we ever take possession of these rivers |
we shall have TO do something of that |
sort to get rid of the brutes. Are the |
Malays afraid of them?"
I don't know, Mr.. Parkhurst, but |
I think they are. l had a chat with a |
nate ] met in the Myrtle which went /
home the day after we relieved them |
here. He had been up some of the riv-
ers, and told me that every village had i
bathing place palisaded off so that
the alligators could not get at the bath
ers."
We'll, there is one thing-we shall
have 70 be very careful when We arc
cut in boats. for if we were to run upon
a sunken log and knock a hole in the
boats bottom, there would not be much
chance of our ever reaching the
shore"
You are about right there. sir. I
amt afraid of Malays, but it gives me
the creeps down my back when think
of one of them chaps getting hold of me
by the leg. Bob Pearson told me that
the only chance you have is to send
y our knife. or, ii you can't get at that,
your thumbs. into the creatures eyes.
But it would require d mighty cool
hand to find the eyes, with the brute's
teeth IN ones leg and the water so
thick with mud that you could not see
an inch beyond your nose"
We'll. I'll make note of that, any
how. Davis. and I will take good look
at the next alligator I see dead, so as
to know exactly where to feel for its
eyes"