THE SHARK. 



Description. 



CHAP. IV. 



" Increasing still the terrors of the storm, 

 His jaws terrific arm'd with threefold fate, 

 Here dwells the direful shark. Lur'd by the scent 

 Of steaming crowds, of rank disease and death, 

 Behold ! he rushing cuts the briny flood, 

 Swift as the gale can bear the ship along, 

 And, from the partners of that cruel trade 

 Which spoils unhappy Guinea of her sons, 

 Demands his share of prey demands themselves." 



THOMSON. 



THE SHARK. 



THIS voracious animal may justly be ranked 

 next to the whale in magnitude, as it is often 

 found near thirty feet in length, and of corres- 

 ponding weight and bulk. The skin is covered 

 with very slender prickles, and the upper part of 

 the tail is generally longer than the lower. Its 

 mouth and throat enormously wide, and capable 

 of admitting a human carcase ; which has been 

 repeatedly found in their bellies. Its head is 

 large and flatted ; its snout is long, and the eyes 

 large and goggling, projecting in such a man- 

 ner as to enable it to behold its prey on every 

 side. But the teeth are the most formidable 

 H 2 



