SHARK LORE.

Otago Witness, Issue 1834, 14 January 1887, Page 27

SHARK LORE.

Apropos of sharks, on February 16, 1885, whilst on a voyage to Cape Town on the Union Company's screw steamer Mexican, as we were just leaving Teneriffe behind (whose snowcapped peak, by the way, though usually enveloped in a cloud, was gloriously visible), we ran into and almost cut in halves a large hammer-headed shark. I was leaning over the bows at the time, together with some of the Royal Engineers, under Lieutenant Heath, who were going out to join General Warren in Bechuanaland, watching the flying fish, .which were rising in shoals, when we found a most unaccountable jar. This was caused by the hammer-head, which had struck the steamer dead on, and was literally split down the middle for a third of its length. As it rolled over and over the curious formation of the creature's head could be distinctly seen, but it soon dropped astern, reddening the otherwise transparent blue water with its blood. Had I not seen the fish and felt the concussion, I could' hardly have, believed it possible that on a vessel of such a size as' the Mexican any reverberation could have been made susceptible. Having no means of obtaining a measurement, I will only add that it was a very large specimen. — Percy Selous, in the Field.