204- HABITS AND INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS. CHAP. VI. 



in the belly. The animal, enraged with pain, and 

 streaming with blood, attempted in vain to disengage 

 himself. The crews of the surrounding vessels saw 

 that the combat was decided ; but they were ignorant 

 which was slain, till the shark, exhausted by loss of 

 blood, was seen nearer the shore, and along with him 

 his gallant conqueror, who, flushed with victory, 

 redoubled his efforts, and^ with the aid of an ebb- 

 ing tide, dragged him to the beach. Finally, he 

 ripped open the stomach of the fish, and buried the 

 severed half of his friend's body with the trunk, in the 

 same grave." It is no uncommon thing for the ne- 

 groes who are most admirable divers to achieve 

 the death of this animal by the same means ; but, then, 

 this can only be done with consummate dexterity, and 

 by those who are armed for this express purpose. Or- 

 dinary swimmers are constantly falling a prey to the 

 sharks of warm climates ; and there is an interesting 

 print, delineating the event by which the late sir Brooke 

 Watson a gentleman once well known in London, 

 but who then resided in the West Indies lost one of 

 his legs, in this manner. It is unnecessary, in this place, 

 to "enlarge upon the remarkable powers of the torpedo : 

 it is so far dangerous to a swimmer, that a shock 

 would be sufficient to deprive him, in all probability, 

 for a few minutes, of power to use his limbs. The 

 rays (or flat-fish, similar to those termed thornbacks 

 and maids by our fishermen) grow to an immense 

 size in the Indian seas, and are quite as voracious for 

 human flesh as the sharks. Many species are armed 

 with a long bony spear, situated towards the tail, and 

 barbed like an arrow; with these they can inflict dreadful 

 wounds, which, many assert, exhibit all the appearance 

 of being poisoned. These monsters live, for the most 

 part, in the greatest depths ; and they are the most 

 formidable enemies which the pearl divers of Ceylon 

 and the neighbouring coasts have to encounter 



(218.) Minor injuries can be inflicted by numerous 

 species of this class, and in a great variety of ways. 



