VORACITY OF SHARKS. 261 



On first opening his eyes it appeared as if a stream of 

 fire was passing before them ; but, as he descended, it 

 grew dark, and he felt a terrible pressure on his brain, 

 and there was a roaring as of thunder in his ears. Yet 

 he still remained conscious, and still made vain efforts to 

 reach the knife that was in his belt. At length, as he 

 felt his strength failing, and his brain reeling, the line for 

 an instant slackened by the whale's pausing in its descent ; 

 he reached and drew his knife ; the line again became 

 tight, but the edge of the keen blade was across it, and in 

 an instant he was freed. From this moment he remem- 

 bered nothing, until he awoke to light and life and 

 agonising pain, in his bed. 



Perhaps the reader is familiar with a dreadful example 

 of the voracity of the great white shark. About thirty 

 natives of the Society Islands were proceeding from isle 

 to isle in one of their large double canoes. A storm 

 coming on, the lashings of the two canoes were torn apart 

 by the violence of the sea, and they were separated. 

 Their depth and narrowness rendered them incapable of 

 floating upright when single ; and, though the crew strove 

 hard to keep them on an even keel by balancing the 

 weight, they were every moment capsized. In these cir- 

 cumstances, they endeavoured to form a raft of the loose 

 spars and beams, the boards and paddles, which they could 

 get at, hoping to drift ashore thereon. From their 

 numbers, however, compared with the small size of the 

 raft, the latter was pressed so deep, that the waves washed 

 above their knees. At length they saw the horrid sharks 



