CARTILAGINOUS FISHES. 521 



mastication, and darts off with the treacherous prize with such pro- 

 digious velocity that it makes the rope crack again as soon as the 

 coil is drawn out. Much dexterity is required in the hand which 

 holds the line at this moment. A bungler is apt to be too precipitate, 

 and jerk away the hook before it has got far enough into the shark's 

 maw. The secret of the sport is to let the monster gulp down the 

 whole bait, and then to give the line a violent pull, by which the 

 barbed point buries itself in the coat of the stomach. When the hook 

 is first fixed, it spins out like the log line of a ship going twelve 

 knots. 



" The suddenness of the jerk with which the poor devil is brought 

 up often turns him quite over. No sailor, however, thinks of hauling 

 a shark on board merely by the rope fastened to the hook. To pre- 

 vent the line breaking, the hook snapping, or the jaw being torn 

 away, a running bowline is adopted. This noose is slipped down the 

 rope and passed over the monster's head, and is made to join at the 

 point of junction of the tail with the body ; and now the first part of 

 the fun is held to be completed. The vanquished enemy is easily 

 drawn up over the taffrail, and flung on deck, to the delight of the 

 crew." 



The flesh of the shark is leathery, of bad taste, and difficult to 

 digest. Nevertheless, the negroes of Guinea feed upon it, but not 

 until it has been made tender and eatable by long preservation. In 

 many parts of the Mediterranean coast small sharks are taken from 

 their mother's belly and eaten. The under part of adult sharks is 

 also eaten by the fishermen after the bad parts have been removed. 

 In Norway and Iceland this part of the animal is dried in the air 

 during the most part of the twelve months. The Icelanders also use 

 the fat of the animal ; the liver of one of them, according to Pontop- 

 pidan, will furnish a great quantity of oil. 



We have thus, with the care it deserves, painted the portrait of the 

 shark. The original is by no means beautiful ; but, frightful as it 

 may be, our description would be incomplete if we did not add that 

 divine honours have been granted to this monster of the waters. Man 

 worships force ; he knows the hand which crushes, the teeth which 

 rend. He respects the master or the king who strikes, and he 

 venerates the shark. The inhabitants of several parts of the African 

 coast worship the shark ; they call it their joujou, and consider its 



