94 SPOKT IN NORTH AMEEICA. 



And yet, although every sailor whose palate has 

 not been destroyed by the use of rum and tobacco, 

 will agree with me in this, — a school of mackerel or 

 of herrings, or a shoal of dories, does not cause half 

 so much delight among the crew as the appearance 

 of a single shark. I may add, as some explanation 

 of this, that this monster causes among the sailors a 

 feeling of hatred not difficult to understand, for 

 they have all sworn pitiless war and no quarter 

 against the brute. Some authors have seriously 

 maintained that the French name of the brute 

 {requin) is derived from requiem ; but others 

 maintain that the word is of Scandinavian origin, 

 which seems much more rational. In Norway, the 

 shark is called Kaakierring (a dog that snaps and 

 bites). My readers must choose for themselves 

 which of the two derivations they prefer. But 

 whatever the derivation of the name may be, the 

 sailors have no need to decide, before" conceiving the 

 most intense hatred against that hideous compa- 

 nion, who, like those birds of prey which attend 

 armies on the march to feed upon the corpses which 

 are left behind, follows in the Avake of ships in 

 the hope that chance and the sea may bring a 

 human meal within its reach. Besides this, the 

 shark does not turn up its nose at any odds-and- 



belly of the mother is highly esteemed by amateurs, hut I must con- 

 fess that the idea of eating them under such circumstances is reijag- 

 naiit to me. 



