24 
ANYER ROADS. 
CHAPTER II. 
The Alceste left the harbour of Rio de Janeiro on the morning of 
the 31st of March, and after a very rapid passage, arrived off the Cape 
of Good Hope, and anchored in Table Bay, on the afternoon of the 
18th of April. 
We remained at the Cape till the 5th of May, when the Alceste 
sailed for the Straights of Sunda. The Lyra and General Hewitt 
had been dispatched nine days before, but our superior sailing enabled 
us to gain rapidly upon them, and we anchored in Anyer Roads on 
the 9th of June, two days after them. 
Whilst at anchor I had an opportunity of examining a large shark, 
which was taken the day after our arrival. This animal, which mea- 
sured twelve feet in length, was torn in pieces by the sailors the 
instant it was fairly on deck. They drew from its stomach a whole 
buffaloe’s hide, two buffaloes’ tails, one whole fowl, and the bones of 
another, the remains of several snakes, and a mass of matter of 
which it was impossible to ascertain the nature. 
With some difficulty I made sufficient interest with its furious 
mutilators, to obtain its eye, the structure of which I was anxious 
to learn. It is supported on a firm cartilaginous stem, which 
arises from the bottom of the socket*, and passing by the side of 
the optic nerve, is articulated to the ball by a joint which permits 
motion in every direction. This joint is the centre of motion 
to six strong muscles that arise from the interior of the orbit, 
and are so inserted in the ball of the eye, that their whole action 
* This structure has been pointed out by a celebrated natui’alist, who considers the 
cartilaginous stem as a lever to the muscles. The same naturalist also observes, that 
the stem is articulated with the lower part of the orbit. Lecons d’ Anatomic Comparee, 
tom. ii. p. 425. 
