Ill 
Faure Island, in the middle of Hamelin harbour, is surrounded 
by sand banks between which there are intervals where the water 
is 9 to 12 feet deep. “It is in these deeper places that the marine 
plants grow on which the turtles feed: these amphibians themselves 
live chiefly on the west side of the island. The eastern side is in- 
fested by sharks remarkable for their size and voracity. One of 
these monsters almost devoured Lefevre. who had saved my life at 
the Josephine Islands. He was already knocked over: the terrible 
shark was about to swallow him. when three other sailors, running 
up at his shouts, managed to rescue him from the jaws of the animal. 
Furious at thus being deprived of its prey, the shark hurled itself 
several times at the sailor, succeeding in tearing off part of his 
clothing, and only retired when it had received five wounds. 
Several times we have noticed interesting correspondences be- 
tween the nature of the soil and that of the living beings which are 
natural to it : we have seen everywhere that the different tribes of 
terrestrial or marine animals correspond to such or such latitudes, 
to such or such climates, live exclusively in such or such tempera- 
tures, on such or such foods, and can only exist where all the 
physical circumstances indispensable to their needs exist. It is not 
alone to the naturalist that considerations of this kind may be use- 
ful: often they throw considerable light on geography, and conse- 
quences of the greatest interest from this point of Hew may often 
be deduced from them. Unfortunately we must add that this fas- 
cinating and philosophical portion of natural history has scarcely 
been touched: and the accounts of travellers, which ought to serve 
as its basis, usually contain inexactitudes or errors, instead of the 
precise facts and rigorous notions which are required by science. 
What remains to be said concerning Sharks Bay will furnish the 
proof of this latter assertion and of the importance of researches of 
this nature. 
Amongst the numerous observations which Dampier made in 
Sharks Bay, one was most important to verify, since it contrasts 
strongly with everything that we saw in this locality. I refer to the 
hippopotamus head which the celebrated English navigator claimed 
to have found in the stomach of a shark: now it has been proved 
by naturalists. 
1st. that the true hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus am- 
phibia* , Lin.) belongs exclusively to Africa: 
2nd. that this animal is confined to fresh water; 
3rd. that it is only foimd in the largest lakes and principal 
rivers of Africa, such as the Nile, the Niger, the Sene- 
gal. the Gambia, the Congo, the Orange River, etc.: 
4th. that it is even unusual to find them near the mouths 
of these rivers. 
