80 DAHLAK 



feels curious and at the same time suspicious, and so keeps 

 its distance. When the man in question is a swimmer, how- 

 ever, the shark sees only his legs which dangle above him like 

 a pair of delectable sausages just made to be seized between 

 the teeth. 



On the other hand, it must be said that on numerous 

 occasions my companions and I swam for lengthy periods on 

 the surface, that is to say, in the conditions of inferiority to 

 which I have referred. Cecco, Vailati, Quilici and Ravelli 

 once dived into a herd of pilot whales well out to sea, and 

 remained among them for a long time photographing them. 

 I too found myself swimming alone near the Formica one day, 

 some way out to sea on a ninety-foot depth, in very turbid 

 water, where a fifteen-foot shark had been seen on the surface 

 the evening before. Ravelli and Quilici had to swim out, also 

 in deep sea, to recover their fins which had fallen into the 

 water while the dinghy was being hoisted aboard. Bucher 

 swam around a great deal in the port of Massawa before 

 capturing his manta. We were, in short, in the Red Sea, one 

 of the most celebrated seas in the world for the shark 'danger', 

 and nothing happened. Were we acting foolishly in the cir- 

 cumstances? I suppose we were, but enthusiasm will often 

 carry a man beyond the normal limits of prudence. Not one 

 of us, however, would have ventured so much at night. At 

 night in tropical seas the law of the jungle is unchained. 



To the question whether one can defend oneself from the 

 attack of a shark, the answer is No. A shark, when it has 

 decided to attack, probably after much circling round and 

 under the human prey, hurls itself forward at a speed 

 estimated at about twenty-five m.p.h. A sudden fright might 

 stop it, or at any rate put it off its stroke, but it will otherwise 

 fall upon its prey without giving him time to be either aware 

 of it or even to be able to see it. Furthermore, the shark 



