188 THE IMAGE OF WAR 



of imitation ; and if our soldiers and sailors in tropical 

 stations, who find time hang heavy on their hands, 

 were only to try their hands at it, the number of these 

 sea pests might be substantially reduced. Yet even 

 sharks have their uses, I suppose, as the father of one 

 of my friends once found out. Wishing to bathe in a 

 Ceylon river, he asked a native to show him a place 

 where there were no alligators. The native took 

 him to a pool close to the estuary. After his dip, 

 and when he was drying himself, the European asked 

 his guide why there were never any alligators in 

 that pool. 



"Because, sar," replied the Cingalese, "plenty 

 'fraid of sharks." 



