SHARKS. 307 



And, from the partners of that cruel trade 

 Which spoils unhappy Guinea of her sons, 

 Demands his share of prey, demands themselves." 



A dreadful instance of the voracity of these 

 formidable animals occuiTed a few years ago 

 among the Society Islands. Upwards of thirty 

 natives were passing from one island to another, 

 in a large double canoe, which consists of two 

 canoes fastened together, side by side, by strong 

 horizontal beams, lashed to the gunwales by cord- 

 age. Being overtaken by a storm, the canoes 

 were torn apart, and were incapable, singly, of 

 floating upright. In vain the crew attempted to 

 balance them, they were every moment over- 

 turned. Their only resource was to form a hasty 

 raft of such loose boards and spars as were in the 

 craft, on which they hoped to drift ashore. But 

 it happened, from the small size of their raft, 

 and their aggregated weight, that they were so 

 deep in the water, that the waves washed above 

 their knees. Tossed about thus, they soon be- 

 came exhausted with hunger and fatigue ; when 

 the Sharks began to collect around them, and 

 soon had the boldness to seize one and another 

 from the raft, who being destitute of any weapon 

 of defence, became an easy prey. The number and 

 audacity of these monsters every moment in- 

 creased, and the forlorn wretches were one by 

 one torn off, until, but two or three remaining, 

 the raft at length, lightened of its load, rose to 

 the surface, and placed the survivors beyond the 

 reach of their terrible assailants. The tide at 

 length bore them to one of the islands, a melan- 

 choly remnant, to tell the sad fate of their com- 

 panions. 



