SHARK-FISHERY. 19 



put overboard their lines baited with, seal's 

 blubber : when they get a " nibble," they drag 

 their victim de profundis by means of a wind- 

 lass, and when he appears at the surface they 

 further secure him with harpoons, and despatch 

 him with spears and axes. The Arctic shark 

 {Squalus Groenlandicus or Borealis) is very 

 large, and his liver, which is the sole object of 

 his persecution, affords nearly its own bulk of 

 fine oil, amounting, I am told, sometimes to up- 

 wards of a barrel. ( Qucere, does Dr. De Jongh 

 know anything of Squalus Groenlandicus ?) 



This little vessel appeared to have been 

 pretty successful, as her sides were quite white 

 and silvery from the sharks being dragged 

 against them ; and I confess the sight made us 

 regret that my yacht's ground-tackle was 

 neither long enough nor light enough to 

 admit of our participating in the amusement. 



When these men kill a shark, they have a 

 curious practice of inflating its stomach with a 

 beUows and tying the gullet, in order to make 

 the carcase float, as, if it sank to the bottom, all 

 the other sharks would devote their attentions 

 to their defunct friend, to the neglect of the 

 seal's blubber. 



A-bout 2 A.M. on the 1st of July we passed 



c 2 



