358 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, XIII. 
becalmed, with hardly enough wind to fill her sails and give her steerage way, 
that the best chances occur, It is in weather of this sort that these brutes. 
come up to the surface and bask in the sun or roam about leisurely in search 
of food. Generally the first intimation of their presence is the sight of the 
black triangular dorsal fin moving through the water, and thereafter if it be 
kept steadily in sight, the fish will be found roaming about in irregular 
courses, Gradually his curiosity or hunger will bring him nearer and nearer 
to the ship, until eventually, when he sees there is nothing very dreadful or 
terrifying about her, he will take up a station under her quarter, and often- 
times if not caught, will remain there for hours, or, if the calm weather 
continues, for days. But no sooner does.a shark take up this position than 
an intense desire and longing pervades the whole ship’s company to catch him, 
and at once the line or rope is got ready, the short length of chain which 
connects, the hook to the rope is bent on, and the hook sharpened and baited.. 
There is unfortunately on board a. sailing ship no great variety of baits to 
choose from, The bunting bait is here useless, Fresh meat is much too pre- 
cious, even if it were there, so that we are forced to go to the “ harness cask ” 
for a chunk of either salt beef or pork, The Jatter is perhaps the better, 
so choosing a nice square fat chunk, we put.it on to the hook, and making it 
a bit extra secure witha twine lashing, we lower it carefully over to our 
friend and await results, 
There are occasions of course (and I remember one well when a school of 
vatber small-sized sharks came alongside, and when we caught nine out of 
twelve or thirteen fish one after another) when they are really ravenous, and 
when no sooner is the bait well in the water than it is taken, and at once the 
fun commences, but such occasions are the exception rather than the rule, 
and also the fish on these occasions when they appear in schools are never 
so large as the lone fish, The real excitement begins when a large fish, say 
from 18 feet to 22 feet in length, takes up the position described, attended 
by four pilot fish. Such a fish is by nature and experience cautious and 
wary, and in addition to his natural cunning, he has the intelligence of his 
smaller friends to fall back upon, and he will give you many an anxious 
moment, before he finally succumbs to temptation, The procedure on a 
favourable occasion is somewhat as follows: on the bait being lowered, it may 
for some time be left severely alone, or it may at once attract the attention 
of the pilot fish. In the latter case they will come up and prospect it, at first. 
from a distance, then circle round and round, until finally one bolder than. 
the rest will make a dash at it and rip out a mouthful. This the others can 
no longer stand, and together they will assault the bait until you will begin 
to think that shortly there will be very little left for the principal guest. 
‘In time, however, they will retire to their patron and inform him that there 
is something toothsome not far away and he, who has probably been watch- 
ing the whole performance, and has been waiting patiently for their report 
will begin to show some signs that he intends taking a hand in the next deal. 
