TIGERS OF THE DEEP 



bigger fish or object it may sometimes give that im- 

 pression, but it actually swims in the normal position. 



It is a curious fact that the inherent laziness of the 

 sucking-fish should be linked with a form of laziness in 

 man — for using them to capture other fish is probably the 

 least strenuous way of capturing the creatures of the sea. 

 The Caribbean Indians — unlike the fishermen of China, 

 Australia and other parts — treat remoras as pets — even 

 as intimate friends. Before and after their hunting trips 

 they talk freely with their remoras, encouraging them, 

 cajoling them, and praising them; fully believing that 

 the animals are intelligent and can understand every 

 word they say, and that they like being caressed and 

 praised for their (entirely passive) eflforts. 



Some of mankind's strangest customs and habits are 

 connected with sharks and their near relatives. Ofif the 

 Canary Islands, for instance, the naked divers once used 

 a peculiar method of disarming the stinging ray. The 

 native would go down into the water without a weapon 

 when he had learned that a stinging ray lurked upon the 

 sea-bed near the shore, and would watch his oppor- 

 tunity, circling the venomous creature, and then sud- 

 denly dart in and bite ofif the formidable sting just above 

 the jagged blade. Deprived of its weapon, the fish would 

 lash its tail in fury, but could be safely lassoed and 

 hauled to the surface. 



The period from 1925 to 1928 was a time of shark 

 activity in the world's oceans which was probably 

 greater than any corresponding period for many cen- 

 turies — certainly it has not been equalled since. Innumer- 

 able cases of the capture of out-sized sharks in most of 

 the world's shore-waters were reported, and there were 

 many cases of fierce struggles between human beings and 

 the killers. 



Attacks by sharks of exceptional size had been increas- 

 ing in the years immediately prior to the period. To take 

 but one of the earlier instances, recorded at the time by 



199 



