After entering the “Doldrums,” sharks had become far more numerous than before and were hardly ever out of sight. They swam round our vessel when we did not move, and when we did move they followed in our wake. The sharks frequenting the equatorial regions are more voracious than in other parts of the ocean,—they are the tigers and leopards of the sea. Woe to the man who falls into the water when they are about, for he is sure to be devoured by them.
The sailors have a superstition that when a man is ill on board, the sharks know it, and follow the ship until the man dies and is thrown overboard.
Many of these sharks were surrounded by tiny little fish which the sailors call pilots. These seem to feed on the vermin which adhere to the skin of the sharks. These little pilot fish were not more than four or five inches in length and were very pretty to look at.
The structure of the mouth of the sharks is such that they have to turn on their backs in order to swallow. What terrible rows of teeth they have,—so sharp, just like the teeth of a saw! With a heavy hook made fast to a chain we captured one that had seven rows of teeth.
I often shuddered when I looked at some huge shark following the ship, and retired instinctively from the stern for fear lest something should give way and I should fall into the sea. Nothing could then have saved my life—I should have been dragged down by one of those voracious creatures, and then eaten piecemeal.
Once in a while there was not a shark in sight—they were simply hovering around under the surface of the water waiting for prey. The sailors often said: “Let a man fall overboard, and they will appear soon enough!”
Some sharks love the solitude of the open sea—others like to be near the shore. There are many kinds of these fierce creatures. Some, which are called the pelagic sharks, are the largest inhabitants of the sea, after the whale, and there are several species or varieties. Some of these attain a length of from twenty-five to forty feet.
As I watched the water, I would see a hammer shark, so named on account of his head, with a thick body of about nine feet in length; this species is reputed one of the most ferocious. Then a blue shark would make its appearance, and one day I saw a specimen belonging to the genus Carcharodon. He was an enormous one; the captain said that sometimes they attain a length of forty feet. But the largest of all these monsters of the deep are found in the Pacific Ocean, and attain a length of fifty feet.
CHAPTER V
CROSSING THE EQUATOR—THE SOUTHEAST TRADE-WINDS—THE EQUATORIAL CURRENT—THE GULF STREAM—STRUCK BY A TORNADO—LAND IN SIGHT—AFRICA AT LAST—THE GREAT FOREST.