THE SHARK. . 307 



his messmates were dragging him to a place of secu- 

 rity, the insidious tyrant sprang upon his leg, and, 

 grasping it between its sharp-edged fangles, in a mo- 

 ment severed it from his bleedfhg frame. A Guinea 

 captain was, by stress of weather, driven into the har- 

 bour of Belfast ; and his unfortunate captives, when 

 brought upon the deck for air, had many of them re- 

 posed their sorrows in the deep, from an idea that, by 

 terminating their existence, they should be re-united 

 to their family and friends. The savage monster under 

 whose tyranny they were placed, enraged at the loss 

 of so large a share of his prize, was resolved to make 

 death appear in a more formidable shape than it had 

 hitherto been presented to the minds of those unfor- 

 tunate victims of cruelty and oppression, and therefore 

 gave orders that a young female, whom he had heard 

 had an intention of suicide, should gradually be let 

 down with ropes from the side of the ship. The mi- 

 nions of authority obeyed his orders, and the unresist- 

 ing victim patiently submitted to his caprice ; but, at 

 the moment her head alone remained above the surface 

 of the water, she was heard to utter a most agonizing 

 scream. The surrounding element was dyed with crim- 

 son ; and the sailors, alarmed and astonished at the 

 sight, instantly drew the body out of the water, when 

 it proved that a shark had divided it from the lower 

 part of the sides. This is only one of the many in- 

 stances that might be related of the rapacious appetite 

 of this destructive fish ; but it is sufficient to create 

 ' that antipathy and aversion which is universally con- 

 ceived against this destructive race. 



The usual method which our sailors have contrived 

 to take them, is baiting a large hook with a piece of 

 beef or pork, which is thrown into the sea attached to 



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