THE SHARK. 
118 
have favoured their defigns upon the human race. A- 
long the coaft of Jlfrica, where the {harks are numerous, 
many of the negroes, it is faid, who are obliged to filh for 
their fuftenance, are annually devoured by them. The 
inhabitants of thefe dreary regions are firmly of opinion, 
that the ihark prefers the flefh of a black man to that of 
a white ; and that in conference of this unenviable di' 
ltinftion, if two perfons of different colours are both in 
the water together, his choice falls always upon the ne- 
gro *. 
Whether there be any foundation for this opinion of 
the' negroes, it is of little importance to inquire ; that 
the {hark difeovers an avidity for this fpecies of food, is 
a faft that has been too often verified by fatal experience, 
to admit of a doubt. Mr. Pennaiit relates the ftory of 
the matter of a Guinea ftiip, who, finding a rage for fili- 
cide prevail among his {laves, from a notion the unhappy 
creatures entertained, that after death they would be re- 
ftored to their families, their friends, and their country ? 
to convince them, that at lead fome difgrace {hould at- 
tend them here, Ordered one of their dead bodies to be 
tied by the heels to a rope, and fo let down into the fea : 
Though it was drawn up again with great fwiftnefs, yet 
in that fhort fpace the {harks had bit off all but the feet f • 
Goldfmith tells another, occafioned by the fame barbarous 
traffic, of a woman who was thrown out alive, to deter 
the {laves from felf murder : When the rope was drawn 
to pull her up into the veffel, part of her body appeared 
in circumftances too {hocking to be mentioned. 
* Idem ibidem. 
f Britiih Zoology. 
