The Topeka state journal., 1899-12-15
THE OCEAN sCAVENGER.
LFrom PearsOn's Magazine1


1y THE Tiger of the Seas or SfThe
Sailors Foe or any other scurriIous
name which happens to be handy
Much mud is thrown at him, and, as
he seldom finds a. defender, most OF IL
sticks Hard lines this. Because in
reality this blue water bOgie is an
humble and useful public servant. VINO
performs unCOmplainingly the duties
necessary, but hardly attractive con-
uected with the sanitation OF the seas
The shark is the common ScaNenger
and general undertaken Of the ocean.
He is not. and. for reasons connected
with his very moderate speed limit,
never can be, primarily hsh OF prey
Omen any captured shark and you VIII
find clear proof that this is so. A few
tangled bits of rope yarn, a battered
cOrned beef tin, a Corked bottle con
tanning an insulting message TO the
finder Ohrown overheard by some nau-
Tfcal Wag). or a sailors cap which has
been lost in d gale, all tend TO snow
that the shark is a fish of businesslike
habits, with q keen eye to any chance
Win0fallS which may come IN his way;
but the more digestible contents of his
stomach, consisting mainly OF carrlOn
of every kind, all give the clearest OIL
factory evidence that the original own
ers of them were not alive Cand, in fact,
We're very much dead when this ma
Tine sanitary inspector came along, and,
condemning them as nuisanCes, remOV-
ed them into his own internal refuse
bin. A large accumulation of careful
ly collected evidence on this point
proves cOnclusiVely that there are, as a
matter of fact only two articles of his
ordinary menu which the shark IS able
10 capture aNEe. VIZ. an occasional
1Inwary sea fowl. which he may happen
to surprise asleep on the surface of the
water. and the ugly. OCtOpuSlike SQuid,
whose limited powers of lOcOmOtiOn
give chance to our hungry four knot
prOwler. The shark. then. so far from
being the gore dyed pirate which the
novelist paints him, is a mere hard
such, deserves. If not kindness, at any
rate liberation But this, much mis-
understood fish that he is. is 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 de-
fenceless on the deck, any cruelty, no
matter how revolving, is lawful. And
Jack-untaught child of nature as he
ts-can be fendishly cruel when he is in
the vein, and, with thOughtleSs good
humOr. will practise the most atrOciOus
barDarltleS on the captured shark and
no more realize that he is being cruel
tnan q child does who pulls the legs
off fly.
1t is a curious thing. and so far as
present knowledge goes, quite inexplic-
able, now q shark seems to have an un-
errlng perception of the presence of
CaTrion- BY virtue OF what sense does
ne know that at a distance of. perhaps, 4
a couple Of miles. there is food to be
had Tor the picking up2 1t can hardly
be sight, and to say that it is the sense
OF smell preSuppOSeS an OIfactOry aD-
paratuS of such marvellous deIicacv
that one good Whif from an average
harness cask' would surely burst the
machinery up for good and all, and yet
our snaIk VIII bolt gOOQIV lump of
the gam1est salt pork without 50 much
as wink No. it cannot be his nose
which leads him Now a theory has
been put forward by naturalists that
The shark possesses Gn common with
Ihe Andes cOndOr) a special sense or
instinct, which is denied to cleaner
1eedlng anlmL The naturalist cannot
explain this sense: confesses. in fact
mat ne knows nothing about it; but he
can give IL a name. He calls it the
cafrlOn sense" and with that name
Whlcn, OF course, explains Just nothing
at all, expects US to be satisfied We'll
as we on our part cannot say that the
naturalist IS wrong, we viii let it stand
''Shark-OlH Where avvavqs, ..Daad
aslern- Yes, there he goes: his tri-
angular dOrsal Tin appearing above the
water hundred yards or so away. He
mas found the Offal which we threw
overheard ten minutes ago. and now
IKE OllNer twist, he comes to ask for
more. Now he sweeps up under the
counter, and We can see his 1.-the body
gliding through the water like a blue-
brown shadow He looks disappointfnsr-
~ small, but that is merely the decep-
~ ~ s-tecI OF lne water; once get him
on deck, and he viii appear large
enough and wicked enough to make Us
almost believe the worst fbals Of 1,is
caIumnlators. With a splash vigorous
enough 10 scare a sleeping whale over
goes the hOok-half q hundredWefght of
1ronmonSery fastened by a steel chain
TO rope cable, which is caDabIa ~
Sls-llulLS a tested strain of five tons
one does not fish for the tiger of the
seas with SILK lines and drawn gut
casts Ihe hook is baited with a fOur-
pound lump of fat bilious looking salt
PORK or better stiu with a piece of
porpoise blubber to which a small
square OF the tough hide is stfu at
tstcIeu--a pant which no shark that ever
swan could resist. Our quarry is NOT
IHIdt uraiiy, somewhat frightened bv
the splash tnade purposely, by the waV.
Win the idea of attracting his atten-
1lon) with which this delicate lure is
LnroWn to him, and Sheers Off doubt-
1uIiy- His hesitation, however. does
not last long He remembers the de-
1ghtful flavor of the hors d,oeIvrae
Wnlch ne has already had and comes
up with rush to enjoy the second
course There is a slight oilv swirl a
uash or white from his belly as he
turns over. two double rows of sharD.
1luIuefous looking teeth come toget her
with a snap, and bait. hook and . foot
or Two OF rusty chain are swallowed
without a gulp- Then. as the point of
Ine hook bites into the cartiiagfnous
framework of his head, he becomes
alarmed and tries to break away NJ
use; that i've ton cable win hold him.
Hand over fist ne is hauled in to +be
side running moose is dropped down
me line and over his shoulders and a
dozen eager anglers haul him Inoere-
monioUsly up on deck.