A STORY OF SIX SHARKS. 107 



shark even devours its friends, and for that reason no 

 fish will venture near it. One day, I nearly fell a 

 victim to three of these terrible monsters ; and I 

 will conclude this chapter with an account of that 

 horrible adventure. 



Not far from Beaufort, on the coast of South 

 Carolina, there is a sand-bank, a tongue of alluvium 

 jutting out into the sea. The people of the neigh- 

 bourhood call it Egg's Bank, for it is there that the 

 fish which frequent the waters in those parts come 

 to deposit their ova. At high tide, this bank is 

 covered with water, but whilst the tempest rages no- 

 thing can be more picturesque than to see the waves 

 foaming and seething upon the bar. Frequently, 

 when the weather was calm and the tide low, I 

 accompanied one of Mr. Elliot's blacks on the sand- 

 bank for the purpose of spearing fish, and I caught 

 a large number of basse and halibut. One day, the 

 warmth of the atmosphere prompted me to enjoy a 

 foot-bath, and taking the hand of my friend's slave I 

 walked into the water waist-deep, and waded to the 

 sand-bank. There I remained without thinking of 

 the matter until the tide had almost covered Egg's 

 Bank. Cain had thought no more than I had of 

 the necessity for returning to dry land, when, 



shark which his crew had caught. It followed the vessel for two hours, 

 and only seemed to abandon the pursuit when it had lost all hope of 

 regaining its comrade. It occasionally happens that small fish are 

 found upon sharks, called suckers, because they are so firmly fixed to 

 the Bkin of the brute that they can only be detached with difficulty. 



