The evening times., 1899-12-02
THE OCEAN scAvENGER.
4 Good Word for the Universally De-
spised shark.
(From Pearson's Magazine. }

HTom Pearsons Nagazne.)
The shark is undoubtedly a dog with q
bad name" He is called opprobr.ously
The Tiger Of the Seas" or The Sailors
Foe" or any other scurrilous name which
happens to be handy. Much mud is thrown
at him. and as he seldom finds q defender
most Of II sticks. Hard lines. this. Be-
cause in reality this blue water bogie is
an humble and useful public servant, who
performs uncomplainingly the duties tnec-
assary but hardly attractive) connected
with the sanitation of the seas. The shark
Is the common scavenger and general TN
dertaker OF the ocean. He is not. and for
reasons connected with his very moderate
speed limit, never can be- primarily a fish
Of prey. Open any captured shark and you
will find clear proof that this is 30. A few
'angled bits Of rope yarn, a battered corned
beef tin. corked bottle containing an in
sultins message to the finder (thrown
overheard by some nautical wag). or
sailors cap which has been lost in the
gale. all tend to show that the shark is
q fish OF businessiike habits. with a keen
eye to any chance windfalls which may
come in his way: but the more digestible
contents Of his stomach. consisting mainly
OF carrion Of every kind, all give the clear
est olfactory evidence that the original
owners Of them were not alive land. in
fact. were very much dead when this ma
rine sanitary inspector came along, and,
condemntng them as nuisances, removed
them into his owniinternal refuse bin.
A large accumulation Of carefully col
lected evidence on this point proves con-
clusively that there are, as a matter OF
fact, only two articles Of his ordinary menu
which the shark is able to capture alive,
namely, an occasional unwary sea fowl,
which he may happen to surprise asleep on
the surface Of the water, and the ugly, octo-
pus-like squid, whose limited powers OF
locomotion give a chance to our hungry,
four-knot prowler. The sharp, then, SO far
from being the gore-dyed pirate which the
novelist paints him, is a mere hard-work-
ing. commonplace drudge, and, as as such
deserves, II not kindness, at any rate toll
Grafton. But this. much misunderstood fish
that he Is. Ii Just what he never gets. The
sailor looks upon him as an hereditary
foe against whom he has a death feud, and
upon whose carcass, when it sprawls and
flaps defenceless on the deck, any cruelty.
no matter how revolving, Is lawful. And
Jack-untaught child Of nature as he is
can be hendishly cruel when he is in the
vein. and, with thoughtless good humor,
will practice the most atrccious barbara
ties on the captured shark and no more re-
alize that he is being cruel than a child
does who pulls the legs of fly.
1t is a curious thing, and so far as pres
ent knowledge goes, quite inexplicable,
how a shark seems to have an unerring
perception of the presence Of carrion. By
virtue of what sense does he know that at
distance Of perhaps, couple Of miles.
there is food to be had for the picking up?
1t can hardly be sight, ard to say that 1t is
the sense of smell presupposes an olfactory
apparatus Of such marvellous delicacy that
one good Whit from an average harness
cask" would surely burst the machinery up
for good and all, and yet our shark will
bolt a goodly lump Of the gamiest salt pork
without so much as a wink. No 1t can
not be his nose which leads him. Now
theory has been put forward by anturalists
that the shark possesses Tin common with