545 



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

 seizes all that comes 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. He 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 he 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 after member, undisturbed 

 by the cries of the horror-stricken crew assembled on deck to witness 

 the strange spectacle. 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 for him to turn himself round in the water 

 before he can seize the object which is placed above him. He meets 

 with men bold enough to profit by this peculiarity, and chase him, 

 formidable and ferocious though he is. 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. The fishing operation is conducted as fol- 

 lows : Choosing a dark night, the fisher prepares a hook by burying it 

 in a piece of fat pork, and attaching it to a long and solid wire chain ; 

 the shark looks askance at this prey, feels it, then leaves it; he is 

 tempted by withdrawing the bait, when he follows, and swallows it 

 gluttonously. He now tries to sink into the water, but, checked by 

 the chain, he struggles and fights. By-and-by he gets exhausted, 

 and the chain is drawn up in such a manner as to raise the head out 

 s 



