322 ITS DESTRUCTIVENESS. 



Of the skin, which is very hard, shoes and harness are 

 made, and the Greenlanders also construct canoes. The 

 Norwegians eat the eggs of the female, and cut up the 

 flesh to feed their cattle. The liver, which is of great 

 size, yields a quantity of oil adapted for illuminating pur- 

 poses, but far inferior in quality to that afforded by the 

 whale. 



So great is the audacity of the carcharias, that it will 

 fling itself upon the whales which the hunters have in 

 tow, and even upon those which are being cut up by the 

 side of the vessel. It is not without difficulty that the 

 best-armed men can keep it at a distance. It nearly 

 always, says a Writer, accomplishes a surprising amount 

 of destruction before it loses its hold, and will damage as 

 much as fifteen quintals of fat before it beats a retreat. 



Generally it lives upon fish, upon tunny and cod espe- 

 cially, and upon seals. In default of larger prey, it is 

 content with cuttle-fish and other molluscs ; and when 

 everything else fails, it eats shark. 



It has been rightly asserted that the shark would de- 

 populate the seas, but for the difficulty it experiences in 

 seizing its prey. This difficulty is due, as we have shown, 

 to the position of its mouth, which is situated some ten 

 to twelve inches behind the extremity of the muzzle. 

 Hence it results that the animal pushes before it the 

 object it wishes to bite. It guards against this incon- 

 venience by throwing itself a little on one side; but while 

 it turns, quick as may be its movements, the prey has 

 sometimes an opportunity of escape. When the prey is 

 a negro, the latter seizes this moment to invert their re- 

 spective parts ; profiting by the short interval, he dives 

 underneath the shark, and rips open its belly. According 



