THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1955.
HIDDEN MYSTERIES OF THE UNDERSEA JUNGLE
NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON A SHARK!
S
HARKS! What
ter-
By Jean Foucher Creteau
rur! What evit the "For a word conjures art
tions of people all over the
world!
Where they frequent
warning
in
on
moment I was off guard.
island there is a giant sub- marine mountain. First, my three friends and ! dived.
which Huinmit. on to the
is only 18 feet beneath the of a plateau, or table, suring
surface and is in the farm
the minds of felt an agonising, overwhelming pain in my left thigh as though I had been gripped In a flash, enormous vice without even seeing my attacker, I knew visitors, a single
truth. 'A
me!" shark's "Shark the
got rey of
pulsating
Jean Foucher cle prose Creteau describes his fight with one It of these monsters in the Red Sea.
tend the appearature of
bencing black fin eleving In
The water would be guaran
teed to clear
beach in seconds
crowded
And in places where
is one of many thrilling incidents sharks are ever-present dan. in his absorbing story of underwater familiarity does adventures. This is the second instalment.
KOM. breed contempt.
only even
greater respect and dread. Creteuu
But what
about the sharks? To dis
ACTUSS.
About
200
mea- yarda
Therr we found bare, val» rvek with Bute vegeta- tions. But we discovered, 160, Revat aloals of
quite extraordinarily brithant colour- Ings. It was a though nature WIN trying to compensate fur the barrenness with an exotic display of animal life
የሚ
And while we were beneath the Waves we seemed to be
that Iwart "f
Alem
Weighing more than 100 kilogrammes, this shark- one of the Carcharinus species-flaps about grotesquely in its death throes, after being “harpooned” by the diver.
frightened the fe
44 gun
is a businessman, but spends w Most of tire fish wITE
of tan frightened
gly for a rutera, a yard or less for surf frath much time taking pictures under the not
Pulous Scores of them follow- closely wherever we
when cover it I have roamed the sea. He won a first prize at the 1953 Canness
went, Only
we surfaced The Film Festival for an underwater colour film, and became part of our own oceans, plunging inla
world again did some of them depths to meet them in their
:how any sign of fear. watejarrag sustural element,
them, swimming with them. tempting. gonding and fight. ing them.
I could see its fine gill I did not wait a moment Summoning back penings, as I remained fas- longer.
courage and maded in a vault of silence all my obting
Working on way out to the edge of the ntain table-top we found ourselves musistated suddently, as though in space, in
It was mader water off of which I was the uncome all Y strength I dived 4 st sphere of incredibly rich
Cape Verde, on the Afrien
West fortable coutre.
buret
vonal. 11
For a moment the shark enormous grew body
Bae, ye within range of me with ex. stopped and freed
I think pletive power.
ing me steadily. 1 could ard recali envonnierung auch my heart sloppetf too, "This violent concentrated energy is it." I thought. ever before.
HARPOONED!
A said shark
Bul,
The long, itu. ous body made a half-tuen
and dived away!
15
EJTI
clean
like lightning and, at a range of no mere than a ward, fired a harpoon from my spring
Kun into
**24
dark le
ALL JUNGLES
Sensation
ห
We had swuth over the rege of a preciuice and were fouling The now in 3,000 feet of water.
exhilarating similar to that of a glider plot high on a pitel dark soaring night, out of sight of the earth
Another time, below Cape V. relt.
we discovered a sharks - freeted submarine jungle.
of the gill openings. The harpoon was connert. el by a long rope to a buoy I went up the surface, for air and, lying there face downwards, breathing furt- ously through my air pipe. To say I was relieved. I could see the shark twist- my best to put it mildly.
Yet all ing about savagely beneath danger had not passes for, me in a cloud of sand and
OL 11 gave a series of It seemed to have appear, before I could make my es bied.
the harsh coughs, accompanied Death ed from nowhere, swimming rape, back again rathe
Then, when it was by a kind of choking spasm, hot the law of the submarin strongly and majestically a shark
And each time spirals of jungle, the struggle divre for going almost upon me and { yards WHY
draw 1
Ford blood shot up from the existence, is more violent than round in circles with far about
11 US on shor grace, and all the time keep which might well have bron gills
it veered Błown ing its eyes on me.
shark was facing me!
few
move
falad
W
wards
il
My heart pourades. I did not Jare
Reaching the sea-led, a muscle. But even so, I could not help stopped gently settling un being struck by the supple
ness, the beauty of the crew ture's movements.
STRANGE WORLD
WHS The
yes' There are juurios the just as there are on earth and I would any
we
In this Cape Verdy Jungle of
Biom Dry
entered B during 23 days of ex- waitr ploration without encountering
first time sharks.
a tougue of white sand near since I began andersen X- some large rocks in 40 feet phoring that
of crystal clear water.
The Pilot or Suck Fish has rows of suckers on its helly permitting it to attach itself on sharks, my-fish or
giant turtles.
had caused such pain. I did not like it
nor shall 1. ever.
1J1
1.5
Their volvstant presenen wo as alarming to us at Arst
tigers nud other wild lurking bresals must be to hunter's hd but we soon got und 14 the m
11
I ne
“Chinese politics are chiefly differ ences between personalities
Sees
The General
Real Hope For
A
M
United China
By MILTON SHULMAN ·
COHEN nothing
gruous
about
sees incon- being
1
ORRIS ABRAHAM Shakespaire's Richord III, and fray VIII by heart, Memorising Shakespeare had pars ges of bren the punishming meted out to has schoolboy. He once Jewish general in the averted a panic in Canton by Chinese army. He shrugs hurting
Richard off your incredulity with benign smile.
#L
the.
of
chunks large
that ad-
I to mob that
word.
mired the feat even though they
a understand a
As a young man in Canada he
а
made a comfortable living as service gambler and a real estate indes- He also became quite under- man
Bul
Having spent grost of his 66 years in the of China, he cannot sland why anybody be unduly surprised.
should adept at handling u pistil,
The fact that he was born in Stepney, the eldest son of an immigrant Jewish couple from Poland, ін APY interesting beat irrelevant accident.
bi carter really began when he knocked out a thug who was robbing a Chinere merchent.
Bodyguard
He neemos a close friend of The merchant and son foundl himself involved with a group who were
actively supporting the Chinese revolution designed ovorrow tive Manchu dynasty.
When Dr Sun Yat-sen went
For General Cohen admit that China is where his roots are. The present division of the country between Com-
and Nationalists to Canada to raise funds for the diatresses him deeply. "volution, Cohen was naked to Yal-son's body- am definitely refraining become from taking part in this gund during his tour of Canada civil commotion," he tokl me. "I have too many frienda on both sides."
Always we harf the impress ston of being a the presence of intelligen
munists whose creatures Betis were governed by their adversary's Judgment of thele strength.
The
The long hark 19. Sure it is of sell uni the Jeg endless 10 isplays. But
It is MITHU thing is quite cleni never really courageous Ital- tick only when it feels itself to be exislly the stronger or to Inves
undoubted Al- vantage It is senedive to the shaiest molve or sirock.
My own view is that the un- dersea
hunter.
wwinning in we gurk's own
environmen", strikes the creature as being od and unexpected. It is in- quisitive and curious but pre- fers to spend a long time ob
eving this ny thing which
might prove to be a source of danger.
And, 11x I have sult, it will Wald pattently for the chance maks treacherous, deadly, zargarine attack,
INCIDENTS
Before I leave the Cape Verde
He out of them
Wo
Joko Ghought it and I decided to try to work it myself But when I surfaced to see the effect of my prank W#M
to And that surprised everyone in sight was shouting at me and puinting wut la seu.
Turning sound, I spotted two mory fine cutting through the water, heating straight for me, I was being followed by a real shark! It was about 100 yards to the bench. And I doubt if any swimmer has over covered Dat distance faster than I did,
Over now to the blazing heat of the Red Sea, to the scene of my fight with a shark,
48
Drying in water almost warm as my own blood, i wus searching a coral reef for edible sh to make our supper. Sud- denly, as I slipped between two
abs of
The reference to China's Civil War as a "commotion" shows how Chinese the general's historial perspec- tive hus become. He has seen too many revolutions to be over-awed by any one of them.
But, super- ficially, there
is little else oriental about general
the coral, I found myself face to tuer with shark lying stretched out on the sand.
As I had no camera with me, and as the creature seemed to have a tall different from any 1 her seen before, I decided to harron i So
The clothes are decidedly North Ameri. un; the ac- brond cent.
Canadian That we could haul it abourd Enter bont and West, 124 1 photograph it carefully.
still not lost stubborn in. Cockney flection: his face, topped flat- tened, pugna cious
Staring the brute steadily in the eye and taking careful alm from about three feet away, 1 exion and tk you to the Red And. The harpoon appeared to Sua to describe how I hml wrestle with a shark which al- tarke winslet me fisere 1 mest tell you of two housing bentents which occurred da ng our stay in West Africa,
The Best happiette fat a stuntl ball
the cost where we back put up for the night. fo the morning, a
coloured maid came to our room with a Tray
Two hundred pounds of Bush and
There it was, in fact, that we muscle were writhing
Cowardly down discovered just how agony
species of shark we coffee. there because of what I had are the
encountered; how they will not done. A proud, magnifi- attack unless your back ter- cent creature of the sea was ed or you show algns of fear; grovelling i11
they can be subdued by 21 mess how will
power-Just 33 a Hon of blood
ank, No,
tamer centrols his beasts.
1 must
i didn't enjoy it one little bit.
go tight through the great, ugly Md
There seemed to be no further range to wait, 1 headed back, expecting to be able to haul the beast to the surface, later, by the harpoon line.
But for once I had reckoned without the tenacity and blind fury of a mortally wounded sark. It was my own fault th the beast caught me.
W.. wished her a polite "Cico! morning," but halfway peress the Beer she stopped AGONISING PAIN
her
eyes
track, stared at ove with white 11 amazement, make It quite clear, dropped the tray with a mighty however, that ons canot be eas; and ran off screaming.
about the conduct with categorical
For a moment we sat up in species
beck, different
blankly astonishet. But then we saw what had happen cd and burst into bellows of uncontrollabis laughter,
ان
sharks.
The aume
Soon, the violence which the long tail thrash- may behave in quik
ed sand, rock and water and ways in different sens. the extraordinary energy with which the beast NIGHTMARE struggled combined to break The tough harpoon.
Sand sharks off Cape Verde,
iny'
As I swam I glanced towards n foreirating game of under- water hide-and-seek which one of my companions was playing with a curious, harmless little Ah.
For a moment I was off
guard
Over-
I felt on agonising. whelming pain in my left thigh as though I had been gripped in en Enormous vlee which was
The previous night we had thrown our kit carelessly about the room. And lying neatly at the foot of my bed-just where my feet might have been pro bring closed tighter, ever tighter. truding from the sheets wÊTE pair of huge, glossy rubber
The other incident was al-
some native
lu a Bash, without even see- Ing my attacker, I knew the inth. “A shark's got me."
Screaming with pain, hardly knowing what I was doing, 1 dropped my harpoon gun and gripped the repulsive muzzle of the breast.
by
16
nose,
Sun
and Amega.
After the 1914-18 war, Cohen, at the age of 33, was asked by Dr
Sun,
When China's Grat
president, to act as an ADC and security officer. In this capacity be not only saved Sun's life but carried out diplomatic negotia- tons and look part in purches-
K missions tex the
now republic.
Generat Cohen's military a sergeant in career began as The Irish Guards of Saskatoon.
THE GENERAL
undeni. ably shows its years and might be
East European anything
Russian, Polish, Jew- ish, perhaps only a cer- tain unexpected courtliness in manner reveals the influence of the Far East.
fü
When he became Dr Sun's ADC he was
thy rank of given colonel, and on Dr Sun's death he was promoted to general.
His first battle as a general- described in his biography "Two- Gun Cohen" by Charles Drage few Decidentnis have shows That Cohen's Lactics so intimately soclated could hardly be called orthodox. with the contemporary history
Yet been
of China. He his known and
It was during war between worked closely with such lead- some southwestern . provinces Ing persmelites as Sun Yat- when the general was naked to sin, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Tse- lead a battalion across the Peari tung, T. V. Soong.
River. Alver
Inspecting his
He knows their idiosyncracies troops, the general tock a largo and weaknesses but will only red banner, sloped it over his discuss them off-the-record. shoulder end charged into he explained, "because some day This furmidable sight must have want to maintain my neutrality," battle at the head of his men. I may be in a position to bring dismayed
bout A better understanding between the two slides."
He left the Chinese mainland about four menths before the Communists took over the country. Since then he has been back to Hongkong a number of times and has managed to make some contact with friends In Red China,
the opposition for, when they reached the opposito bank, the enemy had fled.
Real hope
Instantly the ahark for instance, were never aggrea- plunged off into the depths. tvo towards me. But off the And beneath me now was Canary Islands, I had to thrust only a patch of dishevelled away with my arms one which nippers.
snout close that its cano 80 sand.
and blood
against the lens of way slowly mingling with the camera. At the same time I most as fuitny, but might have water.
shouted as loudly I could provedi more disastrous than inside my breathing tube, the breakage of a few cups and
Baucers. This underwater oxpedi- frightening the brute away. tion which I made with
While the sharks elreled Το pay out three
After Dr Sun's death, General friends 'off Cape round us off Cupe Verde we chldren who had been playing With strength I never knew
Cohen--he was known as Mah. Verde, close to where Pro would take it in turns to go up us tricks, such as blocking our I had, I literally tore it from my remaining breathing tubes with beaweed, flesh. But panic seized, me
Kun, which was as close as most fessor Piccard achieved one for air, the others
in on guard, like ringmusters
we decided to teach them again. I could not sel
Chineso of his record-breaking ocean
could get phonetically "I met Generalfalmo Chiong A fantastic nightmare of a icsson. descents in the bathyscaphe, circus.
Blood in the water
Kal-shek was
last year in Formosa to Morris Cohen-served under was unlike anything else
One of my companions Uled a blurring my vision my own and gave him my views on the a variety of Chinese governors
"He Often we hunted Individual shark's dorsal fins to his own blood and a shark's. For the situation," he said. have experienced.
was and officials. He was, captured and polito-anuch by the Japanese when Hongkong sharks weighing 300 pounds or back and, just submerged, came beast that attacked me was the very cordial
so than, he has been on fell and was subsequently re- more and always our great swimming in from the aca to one I thought I had killed; the to difficulty was to get within the spot where tho youngsters one with the harpoon through other occasions,"
patriated to Canada,. nearest range-prefembly a few fact were ramping merrily in the its head.
Would it attack again? I His periodic visits to London
The general his coralderable waited för it, tensed and ter- are now chiefly concerned with rified. Then I caught sight of seeing friends and, relatives, aspect for the fightặng qualities It through the murit. It was But 6ofore the war he often of Chinese' officers. "In guer- Jamated between two rocks, went to purchaso naval ships, rilla tactics they can teach most hold fast by the firmly wedged textile machinery and arms for occidental officers a great deal" harpoon.
About 14 miles aca from the
out
I
MANDRAKE, WHAT ARE YOU SAYING WHAT'S THE MATTER--?,
SUDDENLY, MANDRAKE
By Lee Falk and Phil Davis
MANDRAKE!
IS PULLED UNDER--OUT..
OF SIGHT!
TALK
MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN
DON'T COME
IN THE WATER! WHAT IS
STAY WHERE'
YOU ARE! IT'S
NOT A FISH
IT'S A--Hey
NOT FISH? ITT.C
CONTINUED
ABOUT
MAGIC!
Have you seen
Admiral
AIR CONDITIONERS.
AND REFRIGERATORS.
Quickly my companions came to the rescue, drogging mo up to our boat. There my gaping wound was dressed and I was given an injection of 2,000,000 units of penicillin.
I had escaped with my life and my limb. And I had learned to respect another law of the silent underwater jungle:
"Nover turn your back on shark,"
(To be continuad
(next Saturday) WORLD COPYRIGHT
more
China
..
Bad boy
he said.
....
Since both sides claim to be the heir to Dr Sun Yat-sen's sims for Chino, the general' feels there la real hope for a ‘unfled It was Juvenlie delinquency, China Daca more. "Chinvésë
enough, that
chiefly differences oddly,
started politics, are Morris Cohen on the road from between personallics,' he saki, Stepney to Nanking. His father,
concerned about his reputation Would the general do it all sa a local bad boy, went Morris over again if he were given tho a to A carm in Salatchewan, opportunity? The general has no
Chnada
double, "But next time I'd try'
to wind up wih a' little mbre Arriving there at the rge of money," he said. "I daron 16, his education consisted of wood thing to have in older Little but an ability to récito 2006,