184 TEE BASKING SEAUK. 



parts, the separate portions continue to show signs of life 

 for some time, and it is unsafe to put the hand into his 

 mouth a good while after the head has been separated from 

 the trunk. 



The Greenlanders eat the flesh of this fish both fresh and, 

 dried, and twist his rough skin into a kind of rope. This 

 shark is known to have seized a canoe covered with seal- 

 skin (which was probably the attraction) in his mouth from 

 beneath, and by closing his jaws, destroyed both th© canoe 

 and its inmate. 



The largest of this terrible tribe, the Basking Shark, visits 

 the British seas occasionally, though most abundant in the 

 tropics. He has been seen off the coast of Scotland, and 

 taken, from his enormous length, for the " sea-serpent," at- 

 taining upwards of fifty feet. One of this size was captured 

 some years ago at Kuraci, at the mouth of the Indus. Hap- 

 pily, however, his voracity is not proportioned to his size, 

 being satisfied chiefly with sea-slugs, small fishes, jelly-fish, 

 etc. Pennant mentions a basking shark twenty-six feet in 

 length, taken off Anglesea, from which one hundred and 

 fifty-six gallons of oil were obtained. 



It is said that the pilot-fish is a guide and companion to 

 the shark in his pursuit of prey. Whether this pretty fish, 

 which is only about a foot in length, really does befriend and 

 assist the ocean monster is not quite certain, but some ac- 

 counts give an air of probability to the belief. One of the 

 first voyagers to the East Indies, alludes to this circumstance 

 in a fanciful manner. Describing the sharks, he says: 

 "These have waiting on them six or seven small fishes, 

 which never depart, with guards (bands), blue and green, 

 round their bodies, like comely serving-men, and they go 

 two or three before them, and some on every side.'' We 

 have seen three instances in which the shark was led by the 

 pilot. When the former neared the ship the latter swam 

 close to his snout or near one of his breast-fins; sometimes it 



