160 THE WHALE AND 



Tenacity of Life in the Shark. Credible Tales of Sailors. 



life, or, rather, life to the shark, is astonish- 

 ing, and hardly to be credited by one who has 

 not himself observed it. We have caught a 

 number on this passage for their skin, which, 

 cleansed and dry, is an excellent substitute for 

 sand-paper, much used in whale ships to smooth 

 and polish the various things they make up out 

 of whale's bone and teeth. One that we hauled 

 upon deck, after it was cut open, and the heart 

 and all the internal viscera were removed, would 

 still flap and thrash with its tail, and try to bite 

 it off. The heart was contracting for twenty 

 minutes after it was taken out and pierced with 

 the knife. And, from what I have myself seen, 

 I could not ridicule or deny a story that one 

 has told me of a shark's being known to swim 

 off, upon being thrown overboard, after it was 

 opened, gutted, and had its tail chopped off. 

 Sailors don't like them a bit, but kill them 

 whenever they can ; and there is little wonder, 

 considering they are so likely to be themselves 

 eaten by this greedy ranger through the paths 

 of the sea. 



To have done with our whale, it remains to 

 finish bailing the case, and to cut out the blub- 

 ber of the junk from the part of it called "white 



