160 THE SEA. 



a living torpedo on a clean wet towel, and connected brass wires with it. Round the torpedo 

 were eight persons, standing on isolating substances. One end of the wire was placed in a 

 basin full of water. The first person had a finger of one hand in this basin, and a finger of 

 the other in a second basin, also full of water. The second person had a finger in the 

 last-named basin, and a finger of the other hand in a third basin, and so on round the 

 circle of eight persons. The end of the second wire was plunged into the last basin of the 

 series, thus establishing a complete electric circuit. At the moment when the experimenter 

 touched the torpedo a tolerably strong shock was felt by all participating. When the torpedo 

 was placed on an isolated supporter, it showed its energy by communicating to several persons 

 forty or fifty shocks in the short space of a minute and a half. 



The family Carcharida includes the true sharks, some species of which attain to a 

 length of twenty, or even thirty, feet. They are the terror of all other fish and molluscs. 

 "But the prey which has the greatest charm for him is man; the shark loves him dearly, 

 but it is with the affection of the gourmand. If we may believe some travellers, when 

 several varieties of human food comes in its way, the shark prefers the European to the 

 Asiatic, and both to the negro." He has been known to jump clean aboard a fisherman's 

 boat, and even to snap up a sailor from the shrouds. Commerson relates the following : 

 The corpse of a negro had been suspended from a yard-arm twenty feet above the level 

 of the sea. A shark was seen making every effort to reach the body, which eventually 

 he did, and tore it limb from limb in presence of the horror-stricken crew. The mouth 

 of the shark is placed in the lower part of the head, and the animal has to turn itself 

 in the water before he can seize an object above him. On the African coast the negroes 

 take advantage of this fact; they swim towards him, and seize the moment when he 

 turns to rip up his belly with a large strong knife. The adult shark has six rows of 

 murderous-looking teeth, forming a perfect arsenal of deadly weapons. 



Captain Basil Hall describes the mode by which sharks are sometimes captured. 

 " The sharp-curved dorsal fin of a huge shark was seen rising about six inches above the 

 water, and cutting the glazed surface of the sea by as fine a line as if a sickle had been 

 drawn along it. 'Messenger, run to the cook for a piece of pork/ cried the captain, 

 taking the command with as much glee as if an enemy's cruiser had been in sight. 

 1 Where's your hook, quartermaster ? ' ' Here, sir, here/ cried the fellow, feeling- the 

 point, and declaring it was as sharp as any lady's needle, and in the next instant piercing 

 with it a huge junk of pork weighing four or five pounds. The hook, which is as large 

 as one's little finger, has a curvature about as large as a man's hand when half closed, 

 and is six or eight inches in length, while a formidable line, furnished with three or four 

 feet of chain attached to the end of the mizen topsail halyard, is now cast into the 

 ship's wake. 



" Sometimes the very instant the bait is cast over the stern the shark flies at it with 

 such eagerness that he actually springs partially out of the water. This, however, is 

 rare. On these occasions he gorges the bait, the ho&k, and a foot or two of the chain, 

 without any mastication, and darts off with the treacherous prize with such prodigious 

 velocity that it makes the rope crack again as soon as the coil is drawn out. Much 

 dexterity is required in the hand which holds the line at this moment. A bungler is apt 



