228 TEE CBUISE OF TEE " CACITALOT." 



haul we had made, the last of the carcasses going over- 

 ])oard with a thunderous splash at four in the afternoon. 

 The assemblage of sharks round the ship on this occasion 

 was incredible for its number and the great size of the 

 creatures. Certainly no mariners see so many or such 

 huge sharks as whalemen ; but, in spite of all our previous 

 experience, this day touched high-water mark. Many of 

 these fish were of a size undreamed of by the ordinary 

 seafarer, some of them full thirty feet in length, more 

 like whales than sharks. Most of them were striped 

 diagonally with bands of yellow, contrasting curiously 

 with the dingy grey of their normal colour. From this 

 marking is derived their popular name — " tiger sharks," 

 not, as might be supposed, from their ferocity. That 

 attribute cannot properly be applied to the squalus at 

 all, which is one of the most timid fish afloat, and 

 whose ill name, as far as regards blood-thirstiness, is 

 quite undeserved. Eapacious the shark certainly is; 

 but what sea-fish is not ? He is not at all particular as 

 to his diet ; but what sea-fish is ? With such a great 

 bulk of body, such enormous vitality and vigour to 

 support, he must needs be ever eating ; and since he is 

 not constructed on swift enough lines to enable him to 

 prey upon living fish, like most of his neighbours, he is 

 perforce compelled to play the humble but useful part of 

 a sea-scavenger. 



He eats man, as he eats anything else eatable, because 

 in the water man is easily caught, and not from natural 

 depravity or an acquired taste begetting a decided pre- 

 ference for human flesh. All natives of shores infested 

 by sharks despise him and his alleged man-eating 

 propensities, knowing that a very feeble splashing will 

 suffice to frighten him away even if ever so hungry. 



