15 



, more terrible ; of these there are six rows, extremely 

 hard, sharp-pointed, and of a wedge. like figure. It 

 is asserted there are seventy. two in each jaw, one 

 hundred and forty-four in the whole. With these, 

 the jaws both above and below are planted all over* but 

 he 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 erects all this dreadful apparatus, and the animal 

 he seizes, dies pierced with a hundred wounds in a 

 moment. 



His skin is rough, hard, and prickly, being that 

 substance which covers instrument cases, called Sha- 

 green. 



No fish can swim so fast as he; he outstrips the 

 swiftest ships, plays round them, darts about before 

 them, and returns to gaze at the passengers. Such 

 amazing 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 to per- 

 form, the animal pursued often seizes that opportunity 

 to escape. 



Tortoises are eommotily known to exceed eighty 

 years old ; and there was one kept in the Archbishop, 

 of Canterbury's garden, at Lambeth, that was re. 

 membered above a hundred and twenty. It was at 

 last killed by the severity of a frost, in its winter 

 retreat, which was a heap of sand at the bottom of the 

 garden. 



The young tortoises are generally excluded in about 

 twenty-six days. The little animals no sooner leave 

 the egg than they seek for their provision ; and their 

 shell, with which they are covered from the beginning, 

 expands and grows larger with age. As it is composed 

 >fa variety of pieces, they are capable of extension 

 at their sutures, and the shell admits of increase ia 



