Slowly the object sailed along with the stream, but as it neared me, to my astonishment, a large black fin protruded from the water, and the mystery was at once cleared up.

It was a large SHARK about nine feet long.
In some places the water was so shallow that his tail and a portion of his back were now and then above the surface.

He was in search of grey mullet, with which fish the river abounded; and at this season sharks were very numerous, as they followed the shoals for some distance up the river.

My servant had been in a great state of alarm, as he thought his master would have been devoured in a few seconds; but the natives of the village quietly told me not to be afraid, but to bathe in peace, 'as sharks would not eat men at this season.' I was not disposed to put his epicurean scruples to the test; as some persons may kill a pheasant before the first of October, so he might have made a grab at me a little before the season, which would have been equally disagreeable to my feelings.

The novelty of a white skin in that clear river might have proved too strong a temptation for a shark to withstand.
I never saw game in such masses as had now collected in this neighbourhood.