162 THE RIFLE AND HOUND IN CEYLON, chap. vii. 



deep, and was so clear that every pebble was plainly 

 distinguishable at the bottom. 



I had waded hip-deep into the river when my 

 servant, who was on the bank, suddenly cried out, 'Sar! 

 sar ! come back, sar ! Mora ! mora ! ' and he pointed to 

 some object a little higher up the stream. It was now 

 within ten or twelve yards of me, and I fancied that it 

 was a piece of drift timber, but I lost no time in reach- 

 ing the shore. Slowly the object sailed along with the 

 stream, but as it neared me, to my astonishment, a 

 large black fin protruded from the water, and the 

 mystery was at once cleared up. It was a large shark 

 about nine feet long. 



In some places the water was so shallow that his 

 tail and a portion of his back were now and then above 

 the surface. He was in search of grey mullet, with 

 which fish the river abounded ; and at this season 

 sharks were very numerous, as they followed the shoals 

 for some distance up the river. My servant had been 

 in a great state of alarm, as he thought his master 

 would have been devoured in a few seconds ; but the 

 natives of the village quietly told me not to be afraid, 

 but to bathe in peace, ' as sharks zvould not eat men at 

 tJiis season! I was not disposed to put his epicurean 

 scruples to the test ; as some persons may kill a 

 pheasant before the first of October, so he might have 

 made a grab at me a little before the season, which 

 would have been equally disagreeable to my feelings. 



