BASKING SHARK. 329 



pointed : On the sides of the neck were five large 

 transverse apertures to the gills : on the back were 

 two fins, the first very large, not directly in the 

 middle, but rather nearer the head ; the other 

 small, and situated near the tail : on the lower part 

 were five others, viz. two pectoral fins y two vent- 

 ral fins, placed just behind the fin of the back, and 

 a small anal fin : the tail was very large, and the 

 upper part remarkably longer than the lower : the 

 colour of the upper part of the body was a deep 

 leaden, the belly white: the skin was rough, like 

 shagreen, but less so on the belly than the back ; 

 v/ithin the mouth, towards the throat, was a very 

 short sort of whalebone : the liver was of a great 

 size, but that of the female was the largest : some 

 weighed above a thousand pounds, and yielded a 

 great quantity of pure and sweet oil, fit for lamps, 

 and also much used by the people who took them, 

 to cure bruises, burns, and rheumatic complaints : 

 a large fish has afforded the captors a profit of 

 twenty pounds : they were viviparous, a young one 

 of about a foot in length being found in the belly 

 of a fish of this kind." 



Mr. Pennant adds, that a shoal of this species 

 will permit a boat to follow them without accelerate 

 ing their motion till almost within contact, when it 

 is usual for the harpooner to strike his weapon into 

 them as near the gills as possible ; but that they 

 are often so insensible as not to move till the 

 united strength of two men have forced in the 

 harpoon deeper : as soon as they perceive them- 

 selves wounded, they fling up their tail, and plunge 



