THE WHITE SHARK. 139 
fish, is of very moderate dimensions. Rapa- 
cious and terrible, however, as that fish is, 
it is equally remarkable for being met fear- 
lessly and without injury by man, under 
various circumstances. In the South Sea 
Islands, men and women bathe among White 
Sharks without apprehension; in the West 
Indies, Negroes arm themselves with knives, 
and meet and destroy them: but one of the 
most curious examples of human triumph 
over a Shark was lately witnessed in the 
river Ganges, at Calcutta, in the person of 
a Hindoo boatman of the inland country, 
whose success was obtained by his personal 
strength and dexterity alone, and consisted 
only in enthralling the Shark with a rope 
by means of which it was then dragged on 
shore. 
*<¢ 7] was walking,’ says the eye-witness, 
‘upon the bank of the river, at the time 
when some up-country boats were delivering 
their cargoes. A considerable number of 
coolies* were employed on shore in the 
work, all of whom I saw running away in 
apparent trepidation from the edge of the 
* Porters. 
