184 WHITE— A SJceteh of. the Life of Samuel White. 



calm. Very soon a great many sharks put in an appearance,, 

 and came quite close to the sides of the yacht. They sailed 

 round lazily, but would not take a piece of beef which baited 

 a hook for them. It was interesting to watch such a number 

 of these blunt-nosed huge creatures swimming about, with 

 several sucking fish attached to the body of each monster, 

 hanging on to every part — above, beneath, and on the fins. 

 The sharks appeared not to take the slightest notice of them. 

 The suckers attach themselves by the flat tops of their heads, 

 which are provided with a broad, flat top and a flexible rim, 

 which acts in the same manner as a piece of wet leather when 

 applied to a wet surface. When the sucker attaches itself 

 to the upper surface of the shark the backs of the two fish 

 are presented to each other, and the light under surface of 

 the sucker gleams in the water against the dark background 

 formed by the upper surface of the shark. One or two sucking 

 fish were caught with hooks, and measured from 18 to 24 

 inches in length. Several sharks were struck with harpoons, 

 and they were seen swimming about with great white gashes 

 in their bodies where the iron had struck them, but seemed 

 to take little heed of it. The wind kept very light for the 

 next forty-eight hours, there being just a light air from the N, 

 which enabled the craft to dodge on a little, although she was 

 close up to it. 



At noon on the 29th Bustard Head lay 'right abeam. The 

 sun was beginning to make itself felt as a gentle reminder 

 that the tropics were being approached. The light breeze 

 died away again, and the vessel was becalmed till the after- 

 noon of the 30th, when a. light breeze sprang up from the N.E., 

 and later freshened considerably. The captain fastened on 

 to a porpoise, and he was hauled on board. Several sea snakes 

 about five feet long were seen during the morning, and 

 also a very large turtle. During the night the wind died away 

 again, but at daylight next morning it came up from the S. 



The nights had been clear and cold, with heavy dews, and 

 the mornings cloudy. By the evening of the 31st the yacht 

 was off Tape Clinton, and the breeze keeping up all night, by 

 daylight the next morning we were among the Cumberland 

 Islands. The wind shifted backwards and forwards from 

 the S. to the S.E., but blew fresh, the weather being typical 

 for the winter in the South Tropics. * The sky was overcast 

 and gloomy all day, and the sea dark and angry looking — this 

 was the first of the trade winds' influence. The vessel 



