Demerara River literally swarms with sharks, yet I have
often seen a negro, clad only in a beaming smile, slip into its
muddy waters, and, after a few sharp blows with his open hand
upon the surface, calmly swim down to the bottom, clear a ship's
anchor, or do whatever job was required, coming up again as
leisurely as if in a swimming-bath. A similar disregard of the
dangerous attributes awarded by popular consent to the shark may
be witnessed everywhere among the people who know him best. The
cruelties perpetrated upon sharks by seamen generally are the
result of ignorance and superstition combined, the most infernal
forces known to humanity. What would be said at home of such an
act, if it could be witnessed among us, as the disembowelling of
a tiger, say, and then letting him run in that horrible condition
somewhere remote from the possibility of retaliating upon his
torturers? Yet that is hardly comparable with a similar atrocity
performed upon a shark, because he will live hours to the tiger's
minutes in such a condition.
I once caught a shark nine feet long, which we hauled on board
and killed by cutting off its head and tail. It died very
speedily--for a shark--all muscular motion ceasing in less than
fifteen minutes.
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