The Shark. 419 
We are told that, in the reign of Queen Anne, some 
of the men of an English merchant-ship, which had 
arrived at Barbadoes, were one day bathing in the sea, 
when a large Shark appeared, and was rushing upon 
them. A person from the ship called out to warn them 
of their danger ; on which they all immediately swam 
to the vessel, and arrived in perfect safety, except one 
poor man, who was cut in two by the Shark, almost 
within reach of the oars. A comrade and intimate 
friend of the unfortunate victim, when he observed the 
severed trunk of his companion, was seized with a 
degree of horror that words cannot describe. The in- 
satiate Shark was seen traversing the bloody surface in 
search of the remainder of his prey, when the brave 
youth plunged into the water, determining either to 
make the Shark disgorge, or to be buried himself in the 
same grave. He held in his hand a long and sharp- 
pointed knife, and the rapacious animal pushed, furiously 
towards him ; he had turned on his side, and had 
opened his enormous jaws, in order to seize him, when 
the youth, diving dexterously under, seized him with 
his left hand, somewhere about the upper fins, and 
stabbed him several times in the belly. The Shark, 
enraged with pain, and streaming with blood, plunged 
in all directions in order to disengage himself from his 
enemy. The crews of the surrounding vessels saw that 
the combat was decided : but they were ignorant which 
was slain, until the Shark, weakened by loss of blood, 
made towards the shore, and along with him his con- 
queror ; who, flushed with victory, pushed his foe with 
redoubled ardour, and, by the aid of an ebbing tide, 
dragged him on shore. Here he ripped up the bowels 
of the animal, obtained the severed remainder of his 
friend's body, and buried it with the trunk in the same 
grave. This story, however incredible it may appear, 
is related in the History of Barbadoes, on the most 
satisfactory authority. 
Had nature allowed this fish to seize his prey with 
as much facility as many others, the Shark tribe would 
have soon depopulated the ocean, and reigned alone in 
the vast regions of the sea, till hunger would have forced 
