108 



the best judges affirm, that it would enrich the 

 most opulent and superb cabinet in Europe." 



THE SHARK. 



There are several species of this monster, for 

 his boldness and voracity may allow us to style 

 him so. The greatest and most audacious of 

 this destructive tribe of sea- fish, is called the 

 White Shark. He represents the vulture, as the 

 whale does the eagle, among the inhabitants of 

 the deep. Like the whale he is viviparous, but 

 differs from that marine wonder in bulk and in 

 habits. The whale's peculiar food is a small 

 sea insect, called the Medusa ; the shark lives 

 entirely upon fish or flesh, and it is reported 

 that when he has once tasted of the flesh of a 

 human being nothing can make him desist from 

 his pursuit after the vessels which he suspects to 

 contain the desired food he seeks after. The 

 \vhite shark is sometimes found weighing near 

 four thousand pounds. The throat is often large 

 enough to swallow a man. He is furnished 

 with six rows of sharp triangular teeth, amount- 

 ing in the whole to one hundred and forty- 



