252 The Dolphin 



fine-drawn theories about the varieties of Dolphin, 

 and reduced them to two, which is certainly all the 

 varieties there are. 



The life of the Dolphin must be an exceedingly 

 happy one, ranging as he does the free breadths of 

 all the oceans without hindrance of any kind. He 

 knows none of the binding hamperings of a fixed 

 abode, and even when the irresistible claims of the 

 perpetuation of his race are upon him he still knows no 

 restriction, is not compelled to go where traps and 

 nets are laid by man for his destruction, as is the case 

 with the albacore. Such enemies as he has he is well 

 able to outpace, to elude, and, although it is certain 

 that Dolphin are occasionally found in the stomach 

 of a sperm whale, there is no doubt that their presence 

 in that vast receptacle of all kinds of fish is almost, 

 if not quite, due to overwhelming curiosity on the 

 part of the Dolphin, resulting in his swimming down 

 the gaping cavern of the whale's throat, whence he 

 never emerges. Sometimes, too, he is taken off his 

 guard and falls a prey to a shark or an albacore, but 

 that I think occurs but seldom, for he has cultivated 

 in a remarkable degree the faculty of keeping a bright 

 look-out for the soundless approach of an enemy 

 large enough to bite him in half and swallow him 

 whole. 



I once witnessed a case in point. It was in the 

 Pacific Ocean on a perfectly calm day, when from 

 my perch at the mast-head all that was going on in 

 the blue serene beneath, illuminated as it was by the 

 fierce vertical rays of the tropical sun, was most clearly 

 visible through a pair of powerful binoculars. Quite 

 close at hand floated a huge log of timber, the 

 upper part of which was dean and fresh-looking, 

 although wave-washed. Underneath, though, it was 



