The Glouo Spreads West 59 



Among the sea fishes many stories are told about dolphin, in- 

 dicative of his gentle and kindly nature, and of manifestations 

 of passionate attachment to boys in and about Tarentum, Caria 

 and other places. The story goes that after a dolphin had been 

 caught and wounded off the coast of Caria, a shoal of dolphins 

 came into the harbour and stopped there until the fishermen let 

 the captive go free; whereupon the shoal departed. A shoal of 

 young dolphins is always, by way of protection, followed by a 

 shoal of large ones. On one occasion a shoal of dolphins, large 

 and small, was seen, and two dolphins at a little distance ap- 

 peared swimming in underneath a little dead dolphin when it 

 was sinking, and supporting it on their backs, trying out of com- 

 passion to prevent its being devoured by some predaceous fish. 

 Incredible stories are told regarding the rapidity of movement 

 of this creature. It appears to be the fleetest of all animals, marine 

 or terrestrial, and it can leap over the masts of large vessels. 

 This speed is chiefly manifested when they are pursuing fish for 

 food, then if the fish endeavour to escape, they pursue them in 

 their ravenous hunger down to deep waters; but, when the nec- 

 essary return swim is getting too long, they hold in their breath, 

 as though calculating the length of it and then draw themselves 

 together for an effort and shoot up like arrows, trying to make 

 the long ascent rapidly in order to breathe, and in the effort 

 they spring right over a ship's mast if a ship be in the vicinity. 

 This same phenomenon is observed in divers, when they have 

 plunged into deep water; that is, they pull themselves together 

 and rise with a speed proportional to their strength. Dolphins 

 live together in pairs, male and female. It is not known for what 

 reason they run themselves aground on dry land; at all events, 

 it is said that they do so at times, and for no obvious reason. 



This is a strange mixture of fact and fancy. Dolphins do appear to 

 be somewhat "affectionate" among themselves — doubtless a mani- 

 festation of a strong herd instinct — but their supposed attachment 

 in some cases to young boys might well be regarded as pure fantasy. 

 Nonetheless, there have very recently appeared authenticated stories 

 fully illustrated by photographs of just such attachments between 

 individual boys and dolphins. Dolphins are solicitous of their young 

 but almost certainly do not support them when dead, or even when 

 injured. They are swift and leap far out of the waves but never 

 over the masts of even the most paltry ships. Aristotle's description 



