water. After sailing majestically up the great bay till they came opposite
the mouth of a smaller one, they turned towards it in a regular line; one
the largest I had seen any where, taking the lead, like an admiral. He had
attained the entrance, with the other seven following, when some monsters
arose from the bottom, near the shore, where he had been lurking, opposed
his further progress, and a conflict instantly ensued. The daring
assailant I distinguished to be a sword-fish, or sea-unicorn, the
knight-errant of the sea, attacking every thing in its domain; his head is
as hard and as rough as a rock, out of the centre of which grows
horizontally an ivory spear, longer and far tougher than any warrior's
lance; with this weapon he fights. The shark, with a jaw larger and
stronger than a crocodile's, with a mouth deeper and more capacious,
strikes also with his tail, in tremendous force and rapidity, enabling him
to repel any sudden attack by confusing or stunning his foe, till he can
turn on his back, which he is obliged to do ere he can use his mouth. This
wily and experienced shark, not daring to turn and expose his more
vulnerable parts to the formidable sword of his enemy, lashed at him with
his heavy tail, as a man uses a flail, working the water into a syllabub.
Meanwhile, in honour, I suppose, or in the love of fair play, his seven
compatriot sharks stood aloof, lying to with their fins, in no degree
interfering in the fray. Frequently I could observe, by the water's
eddying in concentric ripples, that the great shark had sunk to the bottom,
to seek refuge there, or elude his enemy by beating up the sand; or, what
is more probable, by this manoeuvre to lure the sword-fish downwards,
which, when enraged, will blindly plunge its armed head against a rock, in
which case its horn is broken; or, if the bottom is soft, it becomes
transfixed, and then would fall an easy prey. De Ruyter, while in a
country vessel, had her struck by one of these fish, (perhaps mistaking
her for a whale, which, though of the same species, it often attacks,)
with such velocity and force, that its sword passed completely through the