NO. 164 CHESTNUT STREET.

1852.

[Illustration: THE WHITE SHARK]




STORIES OF THE OCEAN.




VOLNEY BECKNER.


The white sharks are the dread of sailors in all hot climates, for they
constantly attend vessels in expectation of anything which may be thrown
overboard. A shark will thus sometimes traverse the ocean in company
with a ship for several hundred leagues. Woe to the poor mariner who
may chance to fall overboard while this sea-monster is present.

Some species of sharks grow to an enormous size, often weighing from one
to four thousand pounds each. The skin of the shark is rough, and is
used for polishing wood, ivory, &c.; that of one species is manufactured
into an article called _agreen_: spectacle-cases are made of it. The
white shark is the sailor's worst enemy: he has five rows of
wedge-shaped teeth, which are notched like a saw: when the animal is at