496 BURMA, ITS PEOrLE AND PRODUCTIONS. 



once in tlic river G.yne, at sunpct, wIk n the air was perfectly still, and tlie broad reach 

 of the river below Damatlifit was like plass. The sound heard in the river was very 

 difl'erent from that heard at sea, evidintly made by a different fish. The latter was 

 of a looming nature, the former, though difficult to desciibe in words, was rather 

 what I may call crepiiant. Many times, and oft, as I have been over the same reach 

 of the Gyno, I never heard the sound except on that single occasion. "When I called 

 the attention of the Burmese in the boat to it, they said that fish were very abundant 

 at that particular spot. To return, then, to our subject, what more probable than that, 

 in ancient times, sailors hearing these mysterious sounds all around them on a dark 

 and stilly night, may have been tempted to follow on in the direction from which 

 th(>y fancied the sounds proceeded, and thus ran upon rocks : or, they may have 

 drifted unconsciously into danger while listening to the strange voices? Nothing is 

 more likely farther, than that they should have taken the sounds to be supernatural. 



"It was as a calm fell — just such an one as I have described — that Ulysses and his 

 crew heard the Sirens. 



AvriK eTTen' avep.o'i fitv tiravaaro J/Se yoK/jpy] 

 "EirXero vrjvefiLr], Koifirjae Be KVfiaja haifiwv. 



Ud. xii. 1G8-9. 



' Sunk were at once (ho winds, the air above. 

 The waves below, at once forgot to move ! 

 Some demon calmed the air and smoothed the deep. 

 Hushed the loud winds, and charmed the waves to sleep.' — PorE. 



More literally — ■ 



Then fell the wind at once — a breathless calm 

 Prevailed around — some spirit hushed the waves. 



""Warned beforehand by Circe of their danger, they strove to pass the spot 

 unnoticed, but they could not thus evade the c^uick-eared sea-nymphs, ami soon heard 

 the captivating sounds fall ou their ears : — ■ 



Ta? S' ov \d0ev o)Kva\o<i cr;??, 

 'E'yjvdev opvyfiei'i], Xr/vpiiv B' 'ivTVVov aoiBrjV. 



Od. xii. 182-3." 



THE MHOR OR GREAT BASEI]S"G SHARK (Page 284). 



The name ' Basking Shark ' would seem to be applied rather loosely to any lai-ge 

 shark, but is properly ap]ilicable, as Dr. Giinther has kindly informed me, to the 

 huge but harmless Ithinodoii fi/picus, Smith. Specimens of this shark are almost 

 unknown in English museums, but the teeth are extremely minute, almost in inverse 

 proportion to the huge dimensions of the animal, and probably when the membrane 

 wherein they are implanted is fresh and soft, they are even less conspicuous than in 

 the dried skin, when they scarcely attain the tenth of an inch. In fact, the risk one 

 runs from these huge monsters is more of their upsetting the boat by scraping tluar 

 backs along its side, than from their teeth. Mr. Swinburne Ward has described this 

 species as visiting the Seychelles frequently, but as not being known north of the 

 Equator. This probably is a too hasty generalization, but it is all the more desirable 

 that those favourably situated for so doing, should put beyond doubt what species it 

 is that grows to such huge dimensions (as recorded) otf the coast of Kurachi. 



Mr. Swinburne Ward, in a letter to myself, says that young specimens of 

 Hhinodon fi/picus are unknown, and that, except a specimen thrown on shore at the 

 Cape, no other locality for this .species is known, except the Seychelles. This, of 

 course, is merely another way of saying that we know nothing of these fishes, and 

 their study is no doubt somewhat ditiicult in a warm climate ; but a recognition of the 

 interest that attaches to the specific identification of an Asiatic shark shoidd lead to 

 some successful attempts to preserve enough materials to fill up this gap in our know- 

 ledge. With reference to this question of dist ribution, I well remember, many years ago, 

 Mr. Blyth's procuring a small shark from the Sand Heads, which greatly puzzled him, 



