4o THE ARCTIC SHARK. Chap. III. 



27//*. — Our salt meat is usually soaked for some days 

 before being used ; for this purpose it is put into a net, and 

 lowered through a hole in the ice; this morning the net 

 had been torn, and only a fragment of it remained ! We 

 suppose our twenty-two pounds of salt meat have been 

 devoured by a shark ; it would be curious to know how 

 such fare agrees with him, as a full meal of salted provision 

 will kill an Esquimaux dog, which thrives on almost any- 

 thing. I used to remonstrate upon the skins of sea-birds 

 being given to our dogs, but was told the feathers were 

 good for them ! Here all sea-birds are skinned before 

 being cooked, otherwise our ducks, divers, and looms would 

 be intolerably fishy. A well-baited shark-hook has been 

 substituted for the net of salt-meat ; I much wish to capture 

 one of the monsters, as wonderful stories are told us of their 

 doings in Greenland : whether they are the white shark, or 

 the basking shark of natural history, I cannot find out. It 

 is only of late years that the shark fishery has been carried 

 on to any extent in Greenland ; they are captured for the 

 sake of their livers, which yield a considerable quantity of 

 oil. It has very recently been ascertained that a valuable 

 substance resembling spermaceti may be expressed from the 

 carcase, and for this purpose powerful screw presses are now 

 employed. In early winter the sharks are caught with hook 

 and line through holes in the ice. 



The Esquimaux assert that they are insensible to pain ; 

 and Petersen assures me he has plunged a long knife 

 several times into the head of one whilst it continued to 

 feed upon a white whale entangled in his net ! ! It is not 

 sufficient to drive them away with sundry thrusts of spears 

 or knives, but they must be towed away to some distance 

 from the nets, otherwise they will return to feed. It must 

 be remembered that the brain of a shark is extremely small 

 in proportion to the size of its huge head. I have seen 



