A great acquisition to the island has been a good supply of water: a shaft had just been sunk upon one of the mountains, and several tons of water had been raised daily. The only inconvenience is their being obliged to bring the water down by casks in carts; but iron pipes, from England, are now being laid down, to convey the water to the wharf, and the shipping will be supplied by means of hoses. Moorings are laid down in the roadstead. The turtle-ponds were well stocked with turtles of large size, varying from two to eight hundred weight each: the price fixed, was fifty shillings each. We were politely invited, and dined with the officers at their mess. At a place called “The Fair,” the birds named sea-swallows, as well as numerous other aquatic birds, congregate; and the eggs of the sea-swallows, which are of a dirty white, with dark red spots, and about the size of crows’ eggs, are there collected at certain seasons of the year, in thousands: several of these were given to us, and found delicate and excellent eating. It was dark before we went off to the ship, and a heavy surf rendered the embarkation very dangerous: no boats should attempt going off after dark. A marine, named James, who was a little intoxicated, fell into the water, and, being overpowered by the violence of the surf and the eddy, perished. After some difficulty, we all re-embarked, and, getting safely on board, resumed our voyage.
The island is considered generally healthy, dysentery being the only disease experienced; and the temperature of the air pleasant, being seldom higher in the shade than 83°, the constant trade-breeze tending to keep the atmosphere temperate. Merchant-ships, in distress for supplies, may here obtain them, the only extra charge made by the government being the freight from England. Fish can be procured in some quantity, and a kind of conger eel, procured at this island, had, when brought to the table, the bones of a lilac colour.
We experienced a very light south-east trade-wind for almost its whole limit, and lost it in lat. 00° 36′ north, and lon. 20° 40′ west. We afterwards experienced calms and light airs, with but little rain. On the 13th of March, in lat. 1° 23′ north, and lon. 22° 15′ west, several sail were in sight, steering to the southward; and about two P.M. we spoke the barque, Lord of the Isles, last from Falmouth, bound to Calcutta: she left Falmouth the 7th of February. A boat was sent from the barque, bringing letters for conveyance to England, and newspapers of December and January, which afforded us some knowledge of how the world was going on.
Sharks, accompanied by pilot-fish, and having several of the Remora, or sucking-fish, attached to them, were occasionally about the ship during the calm weather.
Sharks are formidable from their muscular strength and the numerous rows of teeth with which their expansive and powerful jaws are armed: they may be considered as the most destructive and voracious of all the inhabitants of the deep. Their stomachs, which are of enormous capacity, are generally found filled with a mixed collection of substances, some of which seem calculated to try the strength of their digestive powers. It does not appear that their sense of smell always guides them in procuring food, as paper, canvas, or indeed any thing thrown overboard which they are capable of swallowing, is greedily devoured by them. To decide correctly on the habitat, or extent of range, taken by any particular species, is difficult, and requires a numerous collection of facts. Frequent mistakes are made in this respect; as in the instance of the Squalus cornubicus, or porbeagle shark, whose habitat was supposed to be confined to the British coasts, but which I have since discovered has been found, although rarely, inhabiting the coasts of New Zealand.
The teeth of sharks vary in different species. Blumenbach observes, that “in most of the sharks the mouth is furnished with very numerous teeth, for the supply of such as may be lost. The white shark has more than two hundred, lying on each other in rows, almost like the leaves of an artichoke. Those only which form the front row have a perpendicular direction, and are completely uncovered. Those of the subsequent rows are, on the contrary, smaller, have their points turned backwards, and are covered by a kind of gum. These come through the covering substance, and pass forward, when any teeth of the front row are lost. It will be understood, from this description, that the teeth in question cannot have any fangs.”[89]
The shark, no doubt, sheds its teeth at certain periods, and the posterior rows are to supply, in succession, the places of those so lost, as, in a number of jaws that I have examined of different species, the second row may frequently be seen in a perpendicular direction, advancing to supply the place of the first. With respect to such teeth having fangs, those of most species have merely rudiments of them, excepting the squalus cornubicus, or porbeagle shark, which has two distinct fangs to every tooth, and they may be seen in the second and third, as well as in the first rows. The posterior rows having their points turned backwards, prevent their prey, when seized, from escaping. The teeth of the shark are used by the Polynesian natives, fixed in rows, as knives. They are attached also to their spears, are used for cutting themselves on occasions of joy or grief, and were employed, previously to the introduction of European knives, for the ornamental carving of their weapons, domestic utensils, &c.
There is a species of shark at New Zealand which I have heard named, by seamen, the ground shark: the teeth procured from this species differ from all others that I have seen; they are long, rather curved inwards, flattened anteriorly, sharp pointed, unserrated at the edges, and have two rather long fangs. They are considered rare at New Zealand, and the teeth are highly valued by the natives, who wear them, with a hole bored through them, as appendages to their ears; they carve their green jasper stone also in the form of these teeth, and wear them in a similar manner: these teeth were so highly prized by the natives, that to procure one was a matter of difficulty. I for some time, since my return to England, endeavoured to ascertain the species to which these teeth belonged, but I was unsuccessful, until lately examining the jaws of the various species of sharks in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, in London, I found it to be the Squalus cornubicus, or porbeagle shark, which is thus noticed in the published catalogue of the college:—
“No. 1832.—The skull, and part of the spine, of a small Porbeagle shark. Squalus cornubicus. Fig. Borlase’s History of Cornwall. Habitat. The British seas.”
This species, from its magnitude when full grown, has sometimes been confounded with the squalus carcharias, or white shark.—Presented by Dr. Leach, 1820.