162 THE SEA. 



substitute for cod-liver oil. The liver of a shark fifteen feet long will yield from twelve 

 to sixteen gallons of oil. 



The canoes used for shark-hunting are some twenty feet in length. In the bow a 

 deep groove is cut, to guide the rope after the fish has been struck. A coil of fifteen 

 fathoms of rope, carefully arranged under the thwarts, is secured at one end to a piece 

 of strong chain, at the other end of which is a harpoon. A lance is kept on board to- 

 assist in giving the couj) de grace to the shark when he has exhausted himself sufficiently. 



The inhabitants of many parts of the African coasts worship the shark, and 

 consider its stomach the road to heaven. Three or four times a year they row out and 

 offer the shark poultry and goats to satisfy his appetite. This is not all ; a child is 

 once a year sacrificed to the monster, which has been specially fattened for this occasion 

 from its birth to the age of ten. On the fete day, the unfortunate little victim is bound 

 to a post on a sandy point at low water ; as the tide rises the sharks arrive. The child 

 may shriek, and the mother may weep, but it is of no avail ; even its own parent thinks 

 that the horrible sacrifice will ensure her child's entry into heaven. 



The dog-fish from which we derive the skin known as shagreen) used for spectacle 

 and other cases the furious and voracious hammerhead, and the saw-fish, belong to the 

 same great order. The last named will attack any inhabitant of the deep whatever, and 

 even dares to measure his strength with the whale. Its length is from twelve to fifteen feet, 

 while its weapon of defence is sometimes as much as two yards in length. Occasionally 

 it dashes itself against the side of a ship with such fury as to leave its sword broken in 

 the timber. 



Of the fourth great order, Ganoidea, the sturgeon is the most prominent example, 

 It is essentially a sea-fish, although ascending rivers at stated periods, as does, the salmon. 

 It is particularly noticeable for the number of bony plates or scales on its back and belly. 

 In the sea the sturgeon feeds on herrings, mackerel, and other fish ; in the rivers or 

 salmon. It is caught in traps, or in nets. The prepared roe, cleaned, washed in 

 vinegar, and partially dried, is the caviare of the Russians. The eggs of a female 

 sturgeon will weigh over one-third of its entire body, and as they sometimes reach a 

 weight of nearly 3,000 pounds, the preparation of caviare becomes an important and 

 profitable industry. 



The fifth order, Teleostea, or bony fishes, constitutes a lengthy series. Among it 

 must be placed the globular and phosphorescent sun-fish, the spiny globe-fish, the bony 

 trunk-fish, and the cuirassed pipe-fish, the sea-horse, which has a head not unlike a 

 horse, and floats vertically, the flying-fish, the eels, herrings, salmon, carp, cod, flat-fish, 

 mullets, tunnies, and others too numerous to mention. It is for man's purposes the most 

 important of all the orders. 



The flying-fish have been incidentally mentioned before in this work. Captain Basil 

 Hall observed a flight of 200 yards; they have come on board a vessel fourteen or fifteen 

 feet, and into the chains of a line-of-battle ship twenty feet above the water. They are 

 considerably harassed by the attacks of other fish, and when they take to the air often 

 fall victims to gulls and other sea-birds. Sharks and dolphins are their particular enemies. 

 Their glittering, silvery brilliancy is most beautiful in the brightness of tropical seas. 



