SHARK FISHING. 



705 



has cnce enjoyed the luxury of human flesh is said to haunt 

 the neighborhood where he obtained it. lie follows a ship 

 from some instinctive feeling, and has been known to leap 

 into a fisherman's boat, or throw himself against a ship in an 

 effort to reach a sailor who had shown himself over the bul- 

 warks. The slave ships during their voyages were constantly 

 followed by sharks, who battled eagerly for the corpses of the 

 unhappy dead which were thrown overboard. In one case it 

 is recorded that a corpse was hung from the yard arm, dang- 

 ling twenty feet above the water, and was devoured, limb by 

 limb, by a shark, who leaped that distance from the water to 

 obtain his horrid repast. 



On the African coast the negroes boldly attack the shark in 

 his own element. As his mouth is placed under his head, he 

 has to turn round before he can seize anything, and taking 

 advantage of this, the negro seizes the opportunity to rip him 

 up with a sharp knife. 



Shark fishing is regularly followed off the coast of Nan- 

 tucket, for their skins and the oil they furnish. The skins 

 are used for various purposes in the arts. In Norway and 

 Iceland portions of the flesh are dried, and serve as provision 

 for the food of winter. 



The persistancy with which a shark will follow a vessel at 

 sea leads to their frequently being caught. The hook is of 

 iron, as thick as a man's finger, and six or eight inches long, 

 the point made very sharp. It is fastened with a chain five 

 or six feet long, to prevent the shark's teeth from severing it. 

 Baited with a good sized piece of pork, and fastened to a long 

 line, it is thrown over. Sometimes in his eagerness to catch it 

 the shark will jump from the water, but oftener, having pro- 

 bably learned from experience something about the tricks of 

 men, he is more cautious in taking it. Often he will examine 

 it, swim round it, and manage to get it, without Kking the 



boHs ^Iso, as often as it is offered to him rebaitt.1 If he, 

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