58 MEMOIR OF DR. HARVEY. 



opposite his nose, our boatswain slackened fast, and let it run 

 temptingly to the mouth. A snap, a swallow, and the hook stuck 

 fast in his jaw, followed by a shout of exultation from all the 

 hunters. After playing him awhile, he was brought close 

 under the stern, when a stronger line with a noose was let down 

 and slipped over his body. It caught him " in medias res," 

 and he was hauled out of the water, and exposed dangling in 

 mid air to the admiring spectators. Of Miss G. it may be said, 

 terror as much as pity at this moment seized her, for he swung 

 backwards and forwards opposite her cabin window, every moment 

 threatening to swing in holus-bolus. And what a mess that 

 would have been in a lady's room ! But fears were idle, pity vain. 

 Another noose was fastened to his tail, and thus entrapped, he 

 was dragged along through the water, " now no more his home," 

 to the bows, where he was hoisted, till he reached the forecastle. 

 Thither we all went. Having been duly disj)layed, and his 

 eyes damned by the sailors in quaint terms, the butcher 

 approached with his knife. He was not slow in using it. 



I proceed now to open his stomach, for it is always a matter 

 of curiosity to know what delicate fare has lately occupied such 

 a palate ; and surely this won't disgust you. What do you 

 think we found ? Nothing but the intestines of a sheep that 

 had been heaved overboard this morning, and the cook's apron, 

 which he had lost two days ago. Truly we laughed when this 

 latter delicacy was produced, a good, strong, sail-cloth apron. 

 I had read of such things before, but I little thought ever to 

 see them. Now the history of the shark is completed, save to 

 add that he was fried and eaten. Some declared that it was 

 as delicate as a sole. For my part, I thought I could taste the 

 smack of the apron, and so I did not fancy him much. Sailors 

 will tell you it is lucky to catch a shark, for it will bring you a 

 breeze ; and so we found it in this instance. May we ever catch 

 a shark when becalmed, say I. 



Night is the test of the tropics, and it was 79° in my cabin. 

 However, hot as it was, I dreamed that I was botanizing in 

 Greenland and Kamtschatka, and was wofully disappointed 

 to find it all a dream, for I had discovered many new and 

 beautiful plants. Let me, however, take this dream as the 

 shadow of coming events. 



August 8th. I begin to feel the weather very oppressive, 



