WHALES AND MERMAIDS 327 



The common porpoise is, cf course, by far the best 

 known of the British cetacea. When full-grown it 

 attains a length of five or six feet. It may every now 

 and then be seen in the river Thames, where it has 

 ascended to Richmond, and it has also reached Neuilly, 

 on the Seine. It frequents the coasts of the United 

 States as well as those of Europe, but it rarely passes 

 through the Straits of Gibraltar. It is very destructive 

 of fish, feeding voraciously on mackerel, pilchard, and 

 herrings. Such is its eagerness in pursuit of the last 

 named that it is often caught by fishermen in their 

 herring nets. At one time it was commonly eaten both 

 in France and England, and was deemed a valuable addi- 

 tion to the table on a day of abstinence. Malcolm IV. 

 of Scotland granted to the monastery of Dunfermline 

 the porpoises caught in its vicinity. 



As we have before mentioned, roast porpoise figured in 

 the banquet given by King Richard II., in Westminster 

 Hall, on the day of his coronation, which happened to be 

 a Friday, so that no " flesh meat " could be partaken of 

 at it. It was esteemed in England as late as the time 

 of Queen Elizabeth, and was eaten with a sauce of bread- 

 crumbs and vinegar. Its skin is sometimes used as leather, 

 and is valued for its strength, while its blubber furnishes 

 oil. 



The porpoise is gregarious, and most persons who live 

 near the coast must often have observed its gambols. 

 On the approach of a storm, and even in the middle of 

 one, they seem to revel in the waves, frequently showing 

 their black backs above the surface, and often throwing 

 themselves clean out of the water in a vigorous leap. 

 Two which were taken in Wareham River about 1817, 

 yielded sixteen gallons of oil. One of them was found 

 to have milk, which, when tasted, was declared to be wilt 



