THE LIVING WORLD. 
77 
it is useful after capture, but because it destroys their “ happy bunting 
grounds.” 
ADVENTURE WITH SHARKS. 
A whaling vessel having been destroyed by fire at sea, its crew was 
ultimately saved by a shark. After drifting about for five days, during 
which the rations gave out, and several of the crew died from exposure and 
the delirium produced by drinking sea water, a shark rose to attack the body of 
the latest dead man. The captain promptly harpooned the shark, and while its 
strength lasted, used it as a substitute for the rowing of the crew, and after its 
draft powers were exhausted the shark was made to furnish edibles and drink¬ 
ables for the crew. But it 
most frequently happens that 
persons are saved for the shark 
instead of by a shark. Many 
are the incidents which may 
be mentioned in illustration 
of the shark’s inhumanity to 
man. Within the last three 
years the newspapers have 
recited the horrible fate of 
Captain Mark Robinson. His 
vessel was capsized, and within 
a few moments the unfortu¬ 
nate officer saw his wife and 
child killed by sharks, and 
had himself lost both of his 
legs, bitten off one at a time. 
One of the crew escaped with 
the loss of only one arm, and 
another, more fortunate, lost 
no limb, but simply baited 
the shark with flesh, whose 
loss, while painful, was not 
fatal. A shark bit in half 
a fifteen-year-old bather at 
Ceylon, and carried off the 
lower extremities of the un¬ 
fortunate youth who was so the monk, or angel fish ( 
suddenly called away by so 
horrible a death. The pearl divers, as they do not wear the armor of the' 
ordinary divers, are constantly exposed to sudden and terrible attacks from 
sharks. A diver not reappearing when expected was sought out by an Ameri¬ 
can, who, however, wore armor. The American found that the other diver 
had been rendered unconscious by a blow from the shai&s tail, and that the 
shark was just returning to begin its feast. He plungecr' his blade into the 
body of the creature, and fortunately with fatal effect. The first diver was 
resuscitated, but among his recollections none ever proved so thrilling as the 
adventure just recited. 
Shark stories are quite numerous, but possibly no more so than the fre-- 
