634 SUPPLEMENT ON 



more to retain the prey in the mouth, than to lacerate or 

 masticate it. It has been thought, that they were destined 

 to supply the place of the outer and more effective range, 

 when injured or destroyed, but this is not probable. 



The white shark is common in almost all seas, as fero- 

 cious, greedy of blood, and insatiable of prey, as the tiger, 

 and on these accounts is more fearful than the largest cetacea. 

 Its voracity and eagerness in pursuit of its prey is so great, 

 that it will sometimes run in the pursuit on shore ; it swallows 

 so greedily, and is so impatient to pass its half-digested food, 

 to make room for more, that, as Commerson observed, the 

 intestines are frequently forced out a considerable distance 

 from the anus. So great indeed is the gluttony of this ani- 

 mal, that, as Vancouver relates, when harpooned, and no 

 longer able to defend itself, it is sometimes torn to pieces by 

 its companions. 



Seals, and tunny, cods, and other fish, form the ordinary 

 food of the white shark ; but it will also take cuttles and 

 other mollusca ; and, like the vultures on land, they are ob- 

 served to be attracted from considerable distances by the 

 smell of putrescent animal matter of all sorts. The revolting 

 horrors of the slave-trade have been increased by these fit 

 companions of human bloodhounds and murderers, follow- 

 ing the slave ships from the African shore the whole voyage 

 across the Atlantic, to devour the bodies of such of the mise- 

 rable blacks whose sufferings might terminate in death during 

 the passage. Commerson states, that a shark has been known 

 to spring from the water to a height of twenty feet, to seize a 

 human body suspended for the purpose by a line. 



It has been said, that the white shark is obliged, in taking- 

 its prey, in consequence of the opening of the mouth under 

 the projecting muzzle, to turn in the water either on its back 

 or side, but the truth of the assertion seems to be ques- 

 tionable. 



