522 



THE OCEAN WORLD. 



stomach the road to heaven. Three or four times in the year they 

 celebrate the festival of the shark, which is done in this wise. 



They all move in their hoats to the middle of the river, where they 

 invoke, with the strangest ceremonies, the protection of the great 

 shark. They offer to him poultry and goats, in order to satisfy his 

 sacred appetite. But this is nothing ; an infant is every year sacri- 

 ficed to the monster, which has been reared for the purpose from its 

 birth ; it is feted and nourished for the sacrifice from its birth to 

 the age of ten. On the day of the fete it is bound to a post on a 

 sandy point at low water ; as the tide rises, the child may utter cries of 

 horror, but it is abandoned to the waves, and the sharks arrive. Tho 

 mother is not far off ; perhaps she weeps, but she dries her tears and 

 thinks that her child has entered heaven through this horrible gate. 



The Dog-fish, Acantliias vulgar is (Fig. 353), which sometimes 





Fig. 353. The Pickled Dog-fish (Acanthias vulgaris). 



attains the length of between three and four feet, is exceedingly 

 voracious. It feeds upon other fish, of which it destroys great quan- 

 tities ; it does not hesitate to attack the fishermen, and especially 

 bathers in the sea. It places itself in ambush, like the Eaias, in 

 order to attack its prey. The flesh of the dog-fish is hard, smells of 

 musk, and is rarely eaten ; but the skin becomes an article of com- 

 merce, and is known as sliagrin, being, like the skin of the shark, 



