140 INTERESTING ANECDOTE. 
water; returning again, as if eager, yet 
afraid, to approach. some object ; and again 
returning as before. I found, on inquiry, 
that the cause of all this strange perturba- 
tion was the appearance of a large and 
strange-looking fish, swimming close to the 
bank, and almost in the midst of the boats. 
Hastening to the spot, 1 perceived a huge 
Shark sailing along,—now near the surface 
of the water, and now sinking down, appa- 
rently in pursuit of his prey. At this mo- 
ment, an up-country Native, standing upon 
the Choppah roof of one of the beats, with a 
rope in his hand, which he was slowly coiling 
up, surveyed the Shark’s motions with a 
look that evidently indicated a serious inten- 
tion of encountering it in its own element. 
Holding, in one hand, the rope, on which 
he made a sort of running-knot, and stretch- 
ing out the other arm as if already in the act 
of swimming, he stcod in an attitude truly 
picturesque, waiting the re-appearance of the 
Shark. At about six or eight yards from 
the boat, the fish rose near the surface, when 
the Native instantly plunged into the water a 
short distance from its very jaws. The Shark 
