l of the vessel in her
passage through the water! Never for a very long period was this awful
spectacle before our eyes. Though oft repeated it was usually a short
scene, and ended in an abrupt strife among the monsters of the deep,
amid the foam and spray flung aloft by the violent strokes of their
tails, until a cloud seemed to rest over the spot, concealing the
hideous struggle underneath. Then as this cloud slowly settled away, it
could be seen that a human form was no longer there, but in its place
might be observed some mangled remains, with the sail-like fin of the
shark projected above the surface or gliding rapidly through the water.

This, at first, had been a painful spectacle to me, whilst, incredible
to relate, it afforded only amusement to the crew of the _Pandora_. But
in a short while, it had been so oft repeated that it ceased to interest
them even as a momentary diversion; and I--my heart growing, not
hardened, I hope, but only practised to bear the pain--was less every
day touched with the hideous spectacle.

I had infinite opportunities of observing the habits of those
sea-monsters, the sharks. Many of them, I have no doubt, had followed
us all the way from the African coast, for there were several with whose
aspect I had grown familiar, from having noticed them day after day.
Indeed several of them were marked by the cicatrices of old wounds,
which probably they had received in encounters with antagonists of their
own species, or in battles with some other voracious monsters of the
deep. By these scars was I enabled to distinguish more than one; and I
am certain they had followed us all the way, for I had noticed some of
the marked individuals as we sailed out of the Gulf. I had observed,
too, that there were several kinds of them, though the sailors took
little notice of the distinction, calling them all by their well-known
characteristic name of "sharks." Indeed, my own observations of them
were not very minute or scientific. I had too much upon my mind, as
well as upon my hands, to direct any thoughts beyond the boundaries of
the vessel; and it was only at intervals that I gave any attention to
the sea or its finny inhabitants. One thing I could not help observing,
and that was, that the number of the sharks had daily increased, and
kept increasing; and now, at the end of two weeks, they could be seen
around the barque in dozens--sometimes gliding across her course, and
sometimes runni