Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1900-01-30
THESHARK A DRUDGE
AGooD WORD FOR THIS sCAvENGER
=" OF THE OCEAN. ..

aFtH p" OF THE OCEAN.
NJ Iaturallats Gre dit the Much Abuscd
Fish with n spccia' Sense Which
n Guides 1t to the ORal of the Seas ON
III Which II Feeds.
IN The shark is undoubtedly dog with
q bad name" He is called opprobrious-
" the tiger of the seas or the sail
!, ors foe or any other scurrilous name
which happens to be handy. Much mud
as thrown at him. and as he seldom finds
q defender most Of it sticks. Hard lines
this! Because in reality this blue water
bogy is humble and useful public
servant. who performs nncompaininsly
the duties Unnecessary. but hardly attract
i've, connected with the sanitation Of the
seas. The shark is the colnnon scavcnger
and general undertaken of the ocean. He
is not and for reasons connected with his
very moderate speed limit never can be
primarily Il fish OF prey.
Open any captrred shark. and you will
find clear proof that this is so. y few
tangled bits Of rope yarn, Il battered
corned beef TIM corkcd bottle contain
ing AL insulting message to the finder
Thrown overheard by some nauti cal wag)
or Il sailors cap which has been lost in a
gale-al! tend to show that the shark is a
fish Of busiueSslikc habits. with a keen
eye to any chance win.!fHlls which may
come in his way. but the more tliseStiblt
contents of his stomach. consisting main
ly of carriou Of every kind, all give the
clenrcst olfactory evidence that the orig
inal owners Of them were not alive and.
in fact. were very much dead when this
marine sanitary inspector came along
and, conIenIning them as nuisanccS. re-
moved them into his own internal refuse
bin.
A large accumulation Of carefully col
1ectcd evidence on this point proves con-
clus:vely that there are us Il matter Of
fact Only two articles Of his ordinary
menu which the shark is able to capture
alive-viz. an occasional unwary sea fowl
which he may happen to surprise asleep
on the surface Of the wafer and the ugly,
octopuslike suuid. whose limited powers
OF locomotion give chance to our hun
CRY four knot prowlcr.
The shark. then. far from being the
gore dyed pirate which the novelist
paints him, is mere Woodworking. com
nonpiacc drudge and AS such deserves, il
not kindness, ut any rate liberation. But
this. much misunderstood fish TINT he is.
is Just what he never gets. The sailor
looks upon hin, as hereditary foe,
against whom he has ii death feud and
upon whose carcass when it sprawis and
haps defrnseIcss nn the deck any cruelty,
no matter how revolving is lawful. And
Jack-Dataught child Of nature as he is
can he iendishy cruel when be is in the
vein and. with thoughtless good humor,
will act ipT The. .trOcinnS I'M RIA
ties on the captured shark and no more
realize that h" is being cruel than child
does who pulls the legs off fly.
1t is a curious thing and so far as pres
ent knowledge goes quite ineXplicable
how shark seems to have an unerring
perception Of the presence of carrion. by
virtue OF what sense does he know that
at a distance OF perhaps Il couple of miles
there is food to he had for the picking
up! 1t can hardly be sight, and to say
that it is the sense of smell prcsuppOses
an olfactory apparatus Of such marvellous
delicacy that one good Whit FROM an nv.
erage ''hu rncss cask' would surely burst
the machinery up for good and all. and
yet our shark will bolt gnodIy lump Of
the ganiest salt pork without so much as
a wink. No, it cannot be- his nose which
leads him.
Now theory has been put forward by
Aaturalists that the shark possesses in
common with the Andes condor a special
sense. or instinct which is denied to
cleaner feeding animals. The naturalist
cannot explain this sense: confrSSrs. in
fact. that he knows nothing about it. bui
he can give it {: maine. Flo calls it the
"carrion sense and with that name,
which OF course explains just nothing ut
all. expects MS to be satisfied. Wen, az
we ON our part cannot say that the natu-
rast is wrong We will let it stand ut
that.
"Shurk,O" "Wherc awuy?" dead
asteru!" Yes. there he goes, his tri;,ug,!-
lar dorsaI I'm appearing above tn" wafer
100 yards or away. He has found the
ofral which VIC threw overheard ten min
utrs ago. and how. like Oliver Twist, he
comes 10 ask for more. Now ir' sweeps
w under the rn,,ntrr. and we cam see his
1.-the body gliding through the water like
blue brown shadow. He looks d>ap,
printingly y ;ni' !,1l that is nu'rrly The
dccrrtivt effect # the water once g:I
him on deck aud he W i'll appear !nr.,r
enough and wicked enough to make us nj
most believe be worst lihrls of his calum.
niaturs.
With splash vigorous enough to scare
a sleeping Whale over goes the hook nlf
hundred weight nt ivunmuilyrry fastcu.
ed by steel riG:'i!l u rope ca bic, which
IS capable ri standing 4 tested strain OF
fvr tons. Onr does not fish for the tiger
OF he sea- with, silk lines and drawn gut
casts The hook is haitcd with Il four
pound lump OF fat. bilious looking salt
pork: or. better still. with piece OF por-
poiSc blubbtr to which 4 small square Of
The tough hide is still attached IA bait
which no shark that ever swan could re-
sjst Our quarry is, not unnaturnlly,
somewhat frightened by the splash tlnadc
purpos':ly. lH the way. with the idea of
attracting his ;,ttcntionl with which this
delicate lure is throw, to him and sheers
of loubttNlly. His hesitation. however.
does not last long. He remembers the
delightful flavor OF fhr hors i'Hnvres
which he has already had and comes up
with rush to enjoy the second Course.
There is a slight oily swirl. a fash of
white from his belly as he turns over, two
double rows Of sharp murdrrols looking
teeth come together with u snap, and
bait. hook and a foot or two of rusty
chain are swallowed without gnlp.
Then. as the point Of the hook bites into
the cartitagin",ls framework of his head,