3'24 WHITE SHARK. 



Sharks (says Mr. Pennant), are the dread of 

 sailors in all hot climates, where they constantly 

 attend the ships, in expectation of what may drop 

 overboard : a man that has that misfortune perishes 

 without redemption : they have been seen to dart 

 at him like gudgeons to a worm." They are said 

 to attack Negroes in preference to Europeans, and 

 are observed in particular to attend with unremit- 

 ting assiduity the passage of the slave-ships from 

 the coasts of Africa to the West-Indian islands, 

 and, as Cepede very happily and justly observes, 

 may be considered as forming a proper escort to the 

 cruel conductors of those most accursed vessels. 



A master of a Guinea-Ship (says Pennant) in- 

 formed me that a rage of suicide prevailed among 

 his new-bought slaves, from a notion the unhappy 

 creatures had, that after death they should be re- 

 stored again to their families, friends, and country. 

 To convince them that at least they should not 

 reanimate their bodies, he ordered one of their 

 corpses to be tied by the heels to a rope, and 

 lowered into the sea ; and though it was drawn up 

 again as fast as the united force of the crew could 

 be exerted, yet in that short space the Sharks had 

 devoured every part but the feet, which were secured 

 at the end of the cord. Swimmers very often perish 

 by them : sometimes they lose an arm or a leg, and 

 sometimes are bit quite asunder, serving but for 

 two morsels for this ravenous animal : a melancholy 

 tale of this kind is recited in a West-Indian ballad, 

 preserved in Dr. Percy -s Reliques of ancient Eng- 

 lish poetry,'* 



I 



