CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 519 



During the hot season the male and female seek each other ; they 

 approach the coast roving in company, forgetting their ferocity for the 

 time. The eggs are hatched at several periods in the ovary, from 

 which the little ones issue two or three at a time. 



The shark, as soon as born, becomes the scourge of the sea. He 

 seizes all that come near him. He eats the cuttle-fish, molluscs, and 

 fishes ; among others, flounders and cod-fish. 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. It even manifests, according 

 to some authors, a preference for certain races. 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. 

 Still, whatever may be the colour, he seeks eagerly for human flesh, 

 and haunts the neighbourhood where it hopes to find the precious 

 morsel. He follows the ship in which his instinct tells him it is to 

 be found, and makes extraordinary efforts to reach it. He has been 

 known to leap into a boat in order to seize the frightened fishermen ; 

 he throws himself upon the ship, cleaving the waves at full speed, to 

 snap up some unhappy sailor who has shown himself beyond the 

 bulwarks. He follows the course of the slaver, watching for the 

 horrors of the middle passage, ready to engulf the negroes' corpses as 

 they are thrown into the sea. Commerson relates a significant fact 

 bearing on the subject. The corpse of a negro had been suspended 

 from a yard-arm twenty feet above the level of the sea. A shark was 

 seen to make many efforts to reach the body, and it finally succeeded 

 in seizing it, member by member, undisturbed by the cries of the 

 horror-stricken crew assembled on deck to witness the strange spec- 

 tacle. In order that an animal so large and heavy should be able to 

 throw itself to this height, the muscles of the tail and posterior parts 

 of the body must have an astonishing power. 



The mouth of the shark being placed in the lower part of the head, 

 it becomes necessary to turn itself round in the water before it can 

 seize the object which is placed above him. He meets with men bold 

 enough to profit by this conformation, and chase this formidable and 

 ferocious creature. On the African coast the negroes attack the shark 

 in his own element, swimming towards him, and seizing the moment 

 when he turns himself to rip up his belly with a sharp knife. This 

 act of courage and audacity cannot, however, be said to be shark-fishing. 



