96 SIIAUKS. [169 1. 



without any Inconvenience afterwards. It only caus'd a 

 little Pain for a Moment or two, like the prick of a Pin. 



When we bath'd our selves in the Sea, or when we were 

 oblig'd to walk in our Fishing, we were often suri-ounded 

 with a- great Troop of Sharks, among which some were very 

 great, yet we were never attack'd by them. And when we 

 were on that fatal Rock of the Isle Maurice, which I shall 

 say more of hereafter, I have a hundred times seen a great 

 Pack of Dogs follow a Stag into the Sea, and Swim after 

 him in places where were abundance of Sharks ; yet they 

 never did them any hurt, any more than they did us when 

 we were Bathing. Let the Header therefore judge, whether 

 this is such a Voracious Animal as 'tis represented to be, or 

 whether the Sharks in these Seas are different from those in 

 others. The Relations of such as have made Voyages to 

 America, and several other parts of the World, tell us 

 unanimously, that the Sharks in those Seas are extreamly 

 dangerous and ravenous, and several Persons speak as if they 

 had been Eye-Witnesses of it ; wherefore 'tis most reason- 

 able to conclude, that all the Sharks are not of the same 

 kind.^ This Fish is commonly fifteen or sixteen Foot long ; 

 its Mouth is so made, that it must necessarily turn upon its 

 Back to swallow its Prey, or must thrust half its Head out 

 of Water ; it has several rows of Teeth, which are extreamly 

 sharp, and like those of a Saw. I was told at Batavia, and 

 elsewhere, that the Brain of a Shark had a Virtue in it, 

 which made Womens Pains in Child-Bed not so racking to 

 them, as they generally are ; but we cou'd not try the 

 Experiment in our Island. Some say, the little Fish which 

 we call Succet,^ or the Shark's Pilot, is his Guide, but that's 



1 All the known species (140) of sharks except four are carnivorous. 

 Those observed by Leguat had doubtless ceased to be dangerous to 

 man, owing to the abundance of animal food round the islaud. Forty 

 years later we read a very different account of them ; far from being 

 harmless, they were then extremely aggressive and of great size. 

 {Gunther, I. c, p. 315 ; Ann. Sc. 7iat. Zool. (6), ii, art. 4.) 



2 Sucking-fish, Echeneis remora. 



