{"id":"01KG8AKXGQ8DSGRRQ4T70VEWY7","cid":"bafkreiat4s3q7ys2npq4ucazmt2zbwwz6u6zs3ptce3zlk2hrzi74pofqu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1480,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.534Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":1406,"text":"CHAPTER XIII.\r\nOf The Chondropterygii, And Other Uncouth Hordes Infesting The South\r\nSeas\r\n\r\n\r\nAt intervals in our lonely voyage, there were sights which diversified\r\nthe scene; especially when the constellation Pisces was in the\r\nascendant.\r\n\r\nIt’s famous botanizing, they say, in Arkansas’ boundless prairies; I\r\ncommend the student of Ichthyology to an open boat, and the ocean moors\r\nof the Pacific. As your craft glides along, what strange monsters float\r\nby. Elsewhere, was never seen their like. And nowhere are they found in\r\nthe books of the naturalists.\r\n\r\nThough America be discovered, the Cathays of the deep are unknown. And\r\nwhoso crosses the Pacific might have read lessons to Buffon. The\r\nsea-serpent is not a fable; and in the sea, that snake is but a garden\r\nworm. There are more wonders than the wonders rejected, and more sights\r\nunrevealed than you or I ever ever dreamt of. Moles and bats alone\r\nshould be skeptics; and the only true infidelity is for a live man to\r\nvote himself dead. Be Sir Thomas Brown our ensample; who, while\r\nexploding “Vulgar Errors,” heartily hugged all the mysteries in the\r\nPentateuch.\r\n\r\nBut look! fathoms down in the sea; where ever saw you a phantom like\r\nthat? An enormous crescent with antlers like a reindeer, and a Delta of\r\nmouths. Slowly it sinks, and is seen no more.\r\n\r\nDoctor Faust saw the devil; but you have seen the “Devil Fish.”\r\n\r\nLook again! Here comes another. Jarl calls it a Bone Shark. Full as\r\nlarge as a whale, it is spotted like a leopard; and tusk-like teeth\r\noverlap its jaws like those of the walrus. To seamen, nothing strikes\r\nmore terror than the near vicinity of a creature like this. Great ships\r\nsteer out of its path. And well they may; since the good craft Essex,\r\nand others, have been sunk by sea-monsters, as the alligator thrusts\r\nhis horny snout through a Carribean canoe.\r\n\r\nEver present to us, was the apprehension of some sudden disaster from\r\nthe extraordinary zoological specimens we almost hourly passed.\r\n\r\nFor the sharks, we saw them, not by units, nor by tens, nor by\r\nhundreds; but by thousands and by myriads. Trust me, there are more\r\nsharks in the sea than mortals on land.\r\n\r\nAnd of these prolific fish there are full as many species as of dogs.\r\nBut by the German naturalists Muller and Henle, who, in christening the\r\nsharks, have bestowed upon them the most heathenish names, they are\r\nclassed under one family; which family, according to Muller,\r\nking-at-arms, is an undoubted branch of the ancient and famous tribe of\r\nthe Chondropterygii.\r\n\r\nTo begin. There is the ordinary Brown Shark, or sea attorney, so called\r\nby sailors; a grasping, rapacious varlet, that in spite of the hard\r\nknocks received from it, often snapped viciously at our steering oar.\r\nAt times, these gentry swim in herds; especially about the remains of a\r\nslaughtered whale. They are the vultures of the deep.\r\n\r\nThen we often encountered the dandy Blue Shark, a long, taper and\r\nmighty genteel looking fellow, with a slender waist, like a Bond-\r\nstreet beau, and the whitest tiers of teeth imaginable. This dainty\r\nspark invariably lounged by with a careless fin and an indolent tail.\r\nBut he looked infernally heartless.\r\n\r\nHow his cold-blooded, gentlemanly air, contrasted with the rude, savage\r\nswagger of the Tiger Shark; a round, portly gourmand; with distended\r\nmouth and collapsed conscience, swimming about seeking whom he might\r\ndevour. These gluttons are the scavengers of navies, following ships in\r\nthe South Seas, picking up odds and ends of garbage, and sometimes a\r\ntit-bit, a stray sailor. No wonder, then, that sailors denounce them.\r\nIn substance, Jarl once assured me, that under any temporary\r\nmisfortune, it was one of his sweetest consolations to remember, that\r\nin his day, he had murdered, not killed, shoals of Tiger Sharks.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ6BYF8663QGPBCA5NS8","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXGZ01H9A378501K59VN","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.991Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.458Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}