1 1-4 



Gul Haae. 



NATURAL HI STORY of N R WA T. 



he devours every thing that falls in his way, particularly 

 the Mackarel, and is extremely fond of human flefh *. I am 

 therefore inclined to agree with thofe who are of opinion that 

 the large Fifh which fwallowed Jonah was rather a great Shark 

 than a Whale, whofe narrow throat feems very improper to fwal- 

 low a whole human body.' After thefe general observations, I 

 fhall briefly treat of each kind of Sharks in particular. 



The common Shark is of a middling fize, feldom above three 

 or four feet long, and has a fharp bone on the back part of its 

 neck, like a boar's tusk : its skin is of a grey colour, and their 

 flefh not fo delicate as to be coveted for the table^ unlefs when 

 there is a fcarcity of other provitlon, and then they flea it, and 

 dry it in the fmoak. The heft part of it is the liver, which 

 makes the beft fort of train oil. In the Spring, when the Her- 

 rings and Cod appear on the coaffo, the Shark, together with 

 other Fifh of prey, drive them before them, and fo execute the 

 will of the beneficent Creator. Sometimes thefe Fifh come in fuch 

 large fhoals, that they interrupt our regular fifheries ; for one 

 has hardly thrown out the hook, before a Shark faftens upon it, 

 and difappoints the fifherman, who was in expectation of a Cod. 



The Gal Haae, or Haae Gule, differs from the laffc mention'd 

 in the fmoothnefs of the skin, as has been obferved before ; as 

 alfo in colour, which is a bright yellow. Hence it has the name 

 Gul Haae ; i. e. the Golden Skark. It differs remarkably from other 

 Sharks as to its tail, which, in the other kinds, refembles that of 

 a Salmon, excepting that one of the points is fomething longer 

 than the other; whereas the tail of the Gul Haae is longer than 

 its whole body, and grows gradually narrower, till it ends in a 

 point. On account of this tail it is called by fome the Sea-Rat, 

 of which it has fome diftant refemblance, efpecially when- the fins 

 are bent down under its belly, and have the appearance of 

 legs. The head is very large, and the mouth like that of the 

 other Sharks. On the back part of the neck it has a flrong and 

 fharp bone, about four inches long, bending backwards: but 

 the moft remarkable thing in this Fifh is his double generative 



he fays, " Take my worthy friend Dr. Sloane's obfervation : It hath this particular to 

 ' it, with fome others of its tribe, that the mouth is in its under part, fo that it muft 

 ' turn the belly upwards to prey. And was it not for that time it is turning, in 

 c which the purfued fifhes efcape, there would be nothing that could avoid it ; for it 

 ' is very quick in fwimming, and hath a vaft ftrength, with the largeft fwallow of 

 ;t any Fifh, and is very devouring." Sloane's Voyage to Jamaica, p. 23. 

 * Concerning the inhabitants on Viifiden, or Bahus-Lehn, Petrus Undalinus afferts, 



p. 24, what one would hardly think credible ; namely, that the Sharks (which were 



then very numerous in thofe parts) are fo fond of" human flefh, that they have killed 



feveral fifhermen. 



member ; 



