Appetite Extraordinary 1 09 



whale — outside or inside matters little — all contented 

 and happy in their utter dependence upon their gigantic 

 host. Even certain huge specimens of their own race 

 find them shelter occasionally, for Dr. Giinther records 

 an instance of a huge Shark of a harmless kind whose 

 teeth were covered with membrane and who gave 

 shelter in its mouth to a whole colony of Remorae, 

 To this very queer fish he gave the name of Rhinodon 

 typicus. 



Of the voracity of the family generally I have 

 already said a little, but I feel impelled to return to 

 the subject for a brief space, because it is one that can 

 hardly be realised by shore people at all. Let me try 

 and express my meaning as simply and briefly as pos- 

 sible. We once caught a humpback whale in Vau 

 Vau which sank as we were preparing to tow it to the 

 ship, i.e. passing a rope through its lips. The sun 

 had set and the swift tropical twilight had descended, 

 so that we saw it was useless to attempt the long weary 

 task of raising our spoil from the coral bed on which 

 it had settled before daylight next morning. So one 

 boat lay by the carcase all night — it was only twenty- 

 five fathoms down — and watched with crawly sensa- 

 tions the brilliant bands of green light beneath, showing 

 where the great scavengers came and went. It was 

 a very long night, and many an inaudible prayer was 

 put up during those hours of darkness, I know. At 

 last day dawned and work commenced immediately. 

 I need not describe the tedious process of raising a 

 whale from the bottom by the aid of a couple of boats 

 — it is a weary job. At last, however, we were gratified 

 to find the great weight beneath becoming lighter and 

 lighter until at last, with almost a bound, the huge 

 body reached the surface. It was the centre of a host 

 of ravenous Sharks, some of them as long as one of our 



