220 CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 



Is found from twenty to thirty feet Jong; fome aflert, tofour thoufand 

 pound weight; and we are told of one, that had a human corpfc entire 

 in his belly. The head is large, fomewhat flatted; fnout long; eyes 

 large : mouth enormoufly wide; the throat capable of fwallowing a man 

 Vi'nh eafe. Has fometimes fix rows of teeth, extremely hard, fliarp- 

 pointed, and triangular, and finely ferrated: fome fay feventy-two in 

 each jaw, making one hundred and forty-four in all; others think that, 

 as the ar,ir>al grows older, they increafe. With thefe both the jaws ap- 

 pear planted : the animal can ercd. or deprefs them at pleafure. When 

 the fhark is at reft, they lie flat in his mouth ; but when he prepares to 

 feize his prey, he ere6ls them, by a fet of mufcles that join them to the 

 jaw. His fins are large ; his great goggle eyes he turns with eafe on every 

 fide, to fee his prey behind as well as before : his flcin is rough, hard,, 

 and prickly. His colour light afh. Providentially the upper jaw pro- 

 jecls fo far above the lower, that he is obliged to turn on one fide (not 

 quite on his back, as is generally fuppofed) to feize his prey: As this 

 takes fome fmall time to perform, the animal purfued feizes that op- 

 portunity of efcaping. It breathes with gills and lungs; its bones are 

 griftly; and it is viviparous: Belon afliires us, he once faw a female pro- 

 duce eleven young. 



, No filh can fwim fo faft ; none^is fo conftantly ernployed in fwim- 

 ming ; he outfl:rips the fwifteft fliips, plays round them, darts out be- 

 fore them, and returns, feeming to gaze at the paflengers, without any 

 apparent effort. The dread of failors in all hot climates ; where he at- 

 tends the fliips, in expcdation of what m.ay drop over-board. A man 

 who unfortunately falls into the fea at fuch a time, is fure to perifli ; for, 

 when once it has tafl:ed human flefli, it never defiils from haunting thofc 

 places where it experts fuch prey. 



The uiiial method of our failors to take him, is by baiting a great 

 hook with a piece of beef or pork, which is thrown out into the fea by a 

 ftrong cord, ftrengthened near the hook with an iron chain. Without 

 this precaution, the fliark would quickly bite the cord in two, and thus 

 fet himfelf free. It is no unplcalant amufement to obferve this voracious 

 animal coming up to furvey the bait, particularly when not prefixed hy 

 hunger. He approaches it, examines it, fwims round it, feems for a 

 time to neglefl it, perhaps apprehenfive of the cord and the chain j he 

 quits it for a liftle ; but his appetite preflTing, he returns again ; appears 

 preparing to devour it, but quits it once more. "When the failors have 

 luflicitntly diverted rhemfclves, with his evolutions, they make a pretence, 



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