Inspection penetrates the disguise.
Wheresoever the ECHINUS goes--its progress is infinitely slow--it
carries a self-imposed burden--the refuse of dead and inanimate
things--that it may, by imposition upon its foes, continue in the
way of life.
SHARKS AND SKIPPERS
Local blacks have no fear of sharks. They take every care to avoid
crocodiles, exercising great caution and circumspection when crossing
inlets and tidal creeks. So shrewd are their observations that they will
describe distinctive marks of particular crocodiles and indicate their
favourite resorts. Their indifference to sharks is founded on the belief
that those which inhabit shallow water among the islands never attack a
living man. Blacks remain for hours together in the water on the reefs
when beche-de-mer fishing, and the record of an attack is rare indeed.
They are far more fearful of the monstrous groper (PROMICROPS ITAIARA),
which lying inert among the coral blocks and boulders of the Barrier Reef,
bolts anything and everything which comes its way, and which will follow
a man in the water with dogged determination, foreign to the nervous,
suspicious shark. Recently a vigorous young black boy was attacked by a
groper while diving for beche-de-mer.
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