THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 207 



bony sword, each edge of winch is armed with sharp 

 bony spines, resembling teeth, pointing backwards: 

 there are about twenty of these in each row. The 

 body also is covered on the upper surface with hard 

 sharp tubercles, the points of which turn backwards. 

 In this respect, it resembles some of the Kay or Skate 

 tribe, as it does also in the flattened form of its body, 

 and in other respects. Its colour is a dark grey on 

 the upper parts, gradually softening into white 

 beneath. This species was known to the ancients, 

 being found in the Mediterranean Sea, as well as in 

 the Ocean, but it is in the tropical seas that it acquires 

 its most gigantic dimensions. It seems to be an animal 

 of scarcely less ferocity, though far less frequently 

 met with, than the Common Shark: to the Whales it 

 is a formidable antagonist, and though the form of its 

 saw-like sword does not seem most adapted for. pene- 

 trating a resisting body, such is the vigour of its 

 attack, that it will bury its weapon to the root in the 

 flesh of the Whale; and instances are not infrequent 

 in which it has been found firmly imbedded in the 

 hull of a ship. The following interesting narrative, 

 by Captain Wilson of the Halifax packet, gives us 

 an idea of the powers of this monster: — 



"Being in the Gulf of Pari a, in the ship's cutter, 

 on the 15th of April, 1839, I fell in with a Spanish 

 canoe, manned by two men, then in great distress, 

 who requested me to save their lives and canoe, with 

 -which request I immediately complied ; and going 

 alongside for that purpose, I discovered that they 

 had got a large Saw-fish entangled in their turtle- 

 net, which was towing them out to sea, and but for 



