CHONDROPTERYaiANS. 437 



be rescued from the turbulent waters, a shark drew him 

 under, and he was seen no more. The father lost not a 

 moment, but calmly rose, and placing between his teeth 

 a large knife which he carried sheathed in his summer- 

 band, plunged beneath the lashing waves. He disap- 

 peared for some time, but after awhile was occasionally 

 seen to rise, and then dive under the billows,^ as if actu- 

 ally engaged with his formidable foe. After awhile the 

 white foam was visibly tinged with blood, which was 

 viewed with a sensation of horror by those who could 

 only surmise what was going on under the water. The 

 man was again seen to rise and disappear, so that the 

 work of death was evidently not yet complete; after 

 some further time had elapsed, to the astonishment of 

 all who were assembled on the beach (for by this time a 

 considerable crowd had collected), the body of a huge 

 shark was seen for a few moments above the whiting 

 spray which it completely crimsoned, and then disap- 

 peared ; an instant after, the man rose above the surf 

 and made for the shore. He seemed nearly exhausted, 

 but had not a single mark upon his body, which bore no 

 evidence whatever of the perilous conflict in which he 

 had been so recently engaged. He had scarcely landed, 

 when an immense shark was cast upon the beach by the 

 billows. It was quite dead, and was immediately dragged 

 by the assembled natives beyond the reach of the surf ^ 

 As soon as the shark was drawn to a place of security, it 

 was opened, when the head and limbs of the boy were 

 taken from his stomach. The body was completely dis- 

 membered, and the head severed from it, but none of the 

 parts were mutilated. 



A poet is bom a poet, and a shark is bom a shark ; in 

 infancy a malignant, a sea-devil from the egg. When 

 but a few weeks old, and a few inches in length, a Lilli- 

 putian squalus exhibits a pugnacity almost without pa- 



