Year: 1875

undeniable, but why they are SO is not
| generally considered. We will go 6
little into the matter. The shark, 6
fish of the family .SqlsaHdos, when quite
| IN his infant state, and only a few
inches in length, exhibits a pugnacity
almost without parallel for his age. He
will attack fish two or three times larger
than himself; or, if caught, and placed
for observation on the deck of a vessel,
he resents handling, and, with unerring
precision, strikes a finger placed on
| almost any part of his body.


Two things contribute to the sharks
determined ferceness. In the first
place, we may refer to his teeth, for of
these engines of destruction nature has
been to him particularly bountifuI and
this species of bounty ne has a peculiar
pleasure in exercising. If he could
speak, he would probably tell us that,
besides being troubled with his teeth,
which he could rot hell p keeping in use,
he had been gifted with enormous alb
dOminal viscera, and that, more par
ticularly, a third of his body is occupied
by spleen and liver. The bile and other
digestive juices which are secreted from
such an immense apparatus, and poured
continually into the stomach, tend to
stimulate appetite prodigiOusly- and
what hungry animal with good teeth
was ever terder-hearted? ? In truth, a
sharks appetite can never be appeased ;
for, in addition to this bilious diathesis,
he is rot u careful masticator, but
hastily bOltipg his food, produces there
by not only the mOroseness of indiges-
tion, but a whole host of parasites,
which goad as well as irritate the intes-
tines to that degree that the poor
squalus is sometimes quite beside him
self from the torment, and rushes, like
blind Polyphemus, through the waves
in search of anything to cram down his
nav that may allay such urgent dis
tress. He does not seek to be cruel,
but he is cruelty famished. 1T is not
l, eXpOstulates the man in the crowd,
that is pushing; it is others behind
me- The poor wretch must satisfy,
not only his own ravenOus appetite, but
the constant demand of these Internal
parasites, either with dead or living
food; and therefore it is that, sped as
from a catapult, he pOunces on a quarry,
and sometimes goIges himself beyond
what he is able to contain.


Having said thus much of the rapa-
cions habits of the Squalid@, we would
have it remembered that every mans
hand is against them. and that no tor
lures are considered too severe to infict
upon them when caught. If they are
relentless to man and every living thing
around them, their Unsuitable appetite
renders them equally destructive to
their own species, and we of the white
population of this globe ought to recol-
lect, with some show of gratitude, that
they always prefer an African to a Eu-
oItl 1rrt, 4har7 FaT,1 of
men of any color, negro is to them as
the choicest venison. Commerson tells
us that one of the atrcciOus amusements
practised on board slave-ships was to
suspend q dead negro from the bowsprit,
in order to watch the efforts of the
sharks to reach him, and this they would
sometimes effect at a height of more
than twenty feet above the level of the
sea. Wonderful are the tales that sail
ors tell Of the various things that have
been found in a sharks stomach, and it
was thought that any substance that
would enter its mouth was at all times
acceptable. The following, which de-
tails a cruel trick, as described in the
Glasgow Observer, dispels this illusion /:
Looking over the bulwarks of the
schooner, writes a correspondent to
this journal, ] saw one of these watch
full monsters winding lazily backwards
and forwards like a long meteor some
times rising till his nose disturbed the
surface, and a gushing sound like a
deep breath rose through the breakers !;
at others, resting mOtionless on the
water, as if listening to our voices, and
thirsting for our blood. AS we were
watching the motions of this monster,
Bruce Ga little lively negro, and my
n-N I'll l.


stroying it. This was briefly to heat
fire-brick in the stove, wrap it up hastily
in some old greasy cloths, as a sort of
disguise, and then to heaye it over
board. This was the work of a few
minutes; and the effect was triumphant.
The monster followed after the kissing
prey. We saw it dart at the brick like
a flash of lightning, and gorge it in
stanter. The shark rose to the surface
almost Immediately, and his uneasy
motions soon betrayed the success of
the maEmuyre. His agOnies became
terrible; the waters appeared as if dis
turbed by a violent squall, and the
spray was driven over the taffrail where
we stood, while the cleaning body of
the fish repeatedly burst through the
dark waves, as if writhiDg with fierce
aud terrible commissions. Sometimes
we thought we heard a shrill believing
cry, as if indicative of anguish and rage,
rising through the gurgling waters.
His fury, however, was soon exhausted; !;
in a short time the sounds broke away
into distance, and the agitation of the
sea subsidized. The shark had given
himself up to the tides, as unable to
struggle against the approach of death,
and they were carrying his body unre-
sistingly to the beach.


Crouch, IN his Fishes of the British
Islands, would indirectly claim some
apology for the habits of the shark
tribe in reference to which he asks
why the lion and the eagle should oc.
cupy the elevated places they do in
popular estimation, as the king Of beasts
and monarch of the air. They live by
the exercise of powers similar to those
of the sharks, and if Unsuitable appetites
are to take precedence, sharks ought to
stand in the foremost rank.


The appearance of sharks occasionally
upon our coast naturally creates a GER
tain panic amongst bathers and we may
trace the breakage of the nets of our
fishermen to their presence, among
other causes. The six-gilled shark, or
gray shark, is sometimes eleven or
twelve feet in length, and is very de-
structive among the plchards on the
Cornish coast. The white shark is a
formidable fellow; but although his
class occasionally send even to our isles
deputations OF one or two, we have,
fortunately, not had to record of late
years such visitation as that of 1875,
when hundreds appeared in the British
channel. This Individual is perhaps
the most formidable of all the inhab-
ltants of the ocean. Ruyseh says that
the whole body of a man, and even q
man in armor, has been found in the
body of a white shark. Captain King,
in his Survey of Australia, says he
caught one which could have swallowed
a man with the greatest ease. Blumen-
bach says a whole horse has been found