The sharks of the Black Sea are neither very large nor very ferocious, and the Greeks are in the habit of eating them though they have, in my opinion, a most unpleasant taste. They are pursued as much for the sake of their rough skin, which is used by cabinet-makers and pohshers, as for food. They are sometimes caught in nets, but more frequently ^vith a copper hook, baited with a mackerel. As many as from twelve to twenty are sometimes caught in one night. The fat of the shai'k is given to the horses in the steppe, as medicine.
One of the most remarkable of the fish of the Black Sea is one, called by the Russians bitshki^ which always produces fever in those who eat it, and which builds for its young a regular nest, like a bird. The male and female unite their cares in its construction, gathering reeds and soft seaweed, and depositing them in small holes on the shore. In this the female not only lays her eggs, but watches them carefully, like a brooding hen, and when the little ones are hatched, they remain near the mother till they are sufficiently grown to venture alone into the world of waters.
Perhaps, while I am spealdng of remarkable animals, I ought not to omit mentioning an old white-haired Russian, who served in the fisher's hut to carry water, and pei-fonn other offices, and who is worth describing, if only to rescue the painters from any charge of exaggeration in their representations of sea and river-gods, tritons, &c. Never, while I live, can I forget his rough, wild, hairy, reedy face, which sometimes reminded me of the peasants being changed into frogs, in Rubens's picture, in the Gallery at Munich. Sometimes the man seemed the living image of Shakspeare's Caliban. His nose was as fiery red and swollen as the muzzle of an ox ; the eyes lay as deep in their caverns as those of a marmot ; the eyebrows, which the creature was goodnatured enough to let me measure, hung over them two inches in length ; the beard began immediately under the eyes, on the cheek bones, and hung down to the length of an ell over his hairy breast ; even the nose was set with long bristles, like a hill planted with scattered firs, and the ears were literally as woolly as a goat's. It was consolatory to hear that tliis strange creature, who did not look like any thing human, was really a good fellow, and always did his work quietly, without gi'umbling ; and the generality of these fishermen, poor as they were, were so full of wit and humour, had so many droll stories to tell, and so much genuine gaiety in telling them, that I shall long remember, with pleasure, the oiree which I spent with them on the sandy peressip of the Dniester.
We returned to Lustdorf the next day to dinner, without stopping to examine any thing farther on the Steppe. It had begun to rain heavily, and the Steppe is dull enough even in the finest weather. My last few days at Lustdorf were spent in collecting information from colonists, gipsies, shepherds, and horse-herds, which I found of great interest, — of greater, perhaps, than it will be in my power to awaken in the reader by my imperfect description. Gradually, however, I found that my sources of knowledge became exhausted, so I began to meditate an excursion amid new scenes. I accordingly packed up my writing-case, took leave of my worthy host and his pretty daughter, and prepared for a journey to the antique regioiis of Tauria.
" Dl moi,'^ said a young Pole one morning, rushing into the office of Count T, on the Boulevard at Odessa, where I was waiting,
" est ce quil vHy a personne ici qui parle Fran(;aisf' " Oui, Monsieur, cest 77101 quV — Monsieur, on ne me veutpas accepter r " Mais oH, Monsieur — babateau a vapeur T
The police of " Peter the Great," it appeared — that is to say, of a steamer so called, which plied between Odessa and the Crimea — had refiised to receive him on account of some real or fancied irregularity in his papers. Tliis was precisely my own case, and I was now standing with anxious looks fixed on the door of the inner apartment, waiting for the appearance of tlie governor, as for the rising of the sun. Our effects were already on board, our passage paid, the fiery steed was snorting and panting on tlie shore, and the hands of our watches pointed to the last quarter of an hour, at the end of which " Peter the Great " would infallibly put to sea.
Dancing attendance in an antechamber is at all times disagreeable enough, but in such circumstances it is a real torment. The much-desired count, however, made his appearance at last, before it was quite too late, inscribed a few magical characters on our passports, and we foimd ourselves on board the boat just in time to be included in the number of her cabin passengers to the Crimea.