THE SOURCE OF THE NILE, 261 



frcfh; we thought, too, we perceived a current fetting ftrong- 

 ly to the we ft ward. 



On the 30th we failed at eight in the morning, but the 

 wind was unfavourable, and we made little way. We were 

 furrounded with a great many fharks, fome of which feem- 

 ed to be large. Though I had no line but upon the fmall 

 fizgigs for dolphins, I could not refrain from attempting 

 one of the largeft, for they were fo bold, that fome of them, 

 we thought, intended to leap on board. I ftruck one of the 

 moft forward of them, juft at the joining of the neck ; but 

 as we were not practifed enough in laying our line, fo as to 

 run out without hitching, he leaped above two feet out of 

 the water, then plunged down with prodigious violence, 

 and our line taking hold of fome thing Handing in the way, 

 the cord mapped afunder, and away went the mark. All 

 the others difappeared in an inftant ; but the Rais faid, as 

 foon as they fmelled the blood, they would not leave the 

 wounded one, till they had torn him to pieces. I was truly 

 forry for the lofs of my tackle, as the two others were real- 

 ly liker harpoons, and not io manageable. But the Rais, 

 whom I had ftudied to keep in very good humour, and had 

 befriended in every thing, was an old harpooner in the 

 Indian Ocean, and he pulled out from his hold a compleat 

 apparatus. He not only had a fmall harpoon like my firft, 

 but better conftructed. He had, likewife, feveral hooks 

 with long chains and lines, and a wheel with a long hair 

 line to it, like a fmall windlafs, to which he equally fixed 

 the line of the harpoon, and thofe of the hooks. This was 

 a compliment he faw I took very kindly, and did not 

 doubt it would be rewarded in the proper time. 



The 



