CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 



629 



CHAPTER CXLIII. 



OF CARTILAGINOUS FISHES OF THE SHARK KIND. 



strength 

 arrangement 



OF all the inhabitants of the deep, those of 

 the shark kind are the fiercest and the most 

 voracious. The smallest of this tribe is not 

 less dreaded by greater fish, than many that 

 to appearance seem more powerful ; nor do 

 any of them seem fearful of attacking animals 

 far above their size : but the Great White 

 Shark, which is the largest of the kind, joins 

 to the most amazing rapidity, the strongest 

 appetites for mischief: as he approaches nearly 

 in size to the whale, he far surpasses him in 

 and celerity, in the formidable 

 of his teeth, and his insatiable 

 desire of plunder. 



The White Shurk is sometimes seen to rank 

 evon among whales for magnitude ; and is 

 found from twenty to thirty feet long. Some 

 assert that they have seen them of four thou- 

 sand pound weight ; and we are told particu- 

 larly of one, that had a human corpse in his 

 belly. The head is large, and somewhat flat- 

 ted ; the snout long, and the eyes large. The 

 mouth is enormously wide, as is the throat, 

 and capable of swallowing a man with great 

 ease. But its furniture of teeth is still more 

 terrible ; of these there are six rows, extremely 

 hard, sharp-pointed, and of a wedge-like 

 figure. It is asserted that there are seventy- 

 two in each jaw, which make an hundred and 

 forty-four in the whole ; yet others think that 

 their number is uncertain ; and that in propor- 

 tion as the animal grows older, these terrible 

 instruments of destruction are found to increase. 

 With these the jaws, both above and below, 

 appear planted all over ; but the animal has a 

 power of erecting or depressing them at plea- 

 sure. When the shark is at rest, they lie quite 

 flat in his mouth ; but when he prepares to 

 seize his prey, he i rects all this dreadful ap- 

 paratus, by the h -Ip of a set of muscles that 

 join them to the jaw ; and the animal he seizes, 

 dies, pierced with a hundred wounds, in a 

 moment. 



Nor is this fish less terrible to behold as to 

 the rest of his form : his fins are larger in pro- 



portion ; he is furnished with great goggle 

 eyes, that he turns with ease on every side, so 

 as to see his prey behind him as well as before ; 

 and his whole aspect is marked with a charac- 

 ter of malignity : his skin also is rough, hard, 

 and prickly ; being that substance which 

 covers instrument cases, called shagreen. 



As the shark is thus formidable in his ap- 

 pearance, so is he also dreadful from his cou- 

 rage and activity. No fish can swim so fast 

 as he; none so constantly employed in swim- 

 ming: he outstrips the swiftest ships, plays 

 round them, darts out before them, returns, 

 seems to gaze at the passengers, and all the 

 while does not seem to exhibit the smallest 

 symptom of an effort to proceed. Such ama- 

 zing powers, with such great appetites for de- 

 struction, would quickly unpeople even the 

 ocean, but providentially, the shark's upper 

 jaw projects so far above the lower, that he is 

 obliged to turn on one side, (not on his back, 

 as is generally supposed,) to seize his prey. 

 As this takes some small time lo perform, the 

 animal pursued seizes that opportunity to 

 make its escape. 



Still, however, the depredations he commits 

 are frequent and formidable. The shark is 

 the dread of sailors in all hot climates ; w here, 

 like a greedy robber, he attends the ships, in 

 expectation of what may drop over board. 

 A man who unfortunately falls into the sea at 

 such a time, is sure to perish, without mercy. 

 A sailor that was bathing in the Mediterra- 

 nean, near Antibes, in the year 1744, while he 

 was swimming about fifty yards from the ship, 

 perceived a monstrous fish making towards 

 him, and surveying him on every side, as fish 

 are often seen to look round a bait. The 

 poor man, struck with terror at its approach, 

 cried out to his companions in the vessel to 

 take him on board. They accordingly threw 

 him a rope with the utmost expedition, and 

 were drawing him up by the ship's side, when 

 the shark darted after him fronj the deep, and 

 snapped off his leg. 



4U 



