254 THE JOURNEYMAN. 



the fish. There have been instances of its pursuing a 

 boat under sail for many miles, and even of its leaping 

 over it from side to side. It appears, however, that its 

 habits and appetites are unlike those of the shark ; and 

 that the annoyance which it gives the fishermen is out of 

 no desire of making him its prey, but from its predilection 

 for amusement. It seldom meddles with a boat when at 

 anchor, but pursues one under sail, as a kitten would a 

 rolling ball of yarn. The large physalus whale is com- 

 paratively a dull sluggish animal ; occasionally, however, 

 it evinces a partiality for the amusements of the Bhodry- 

 more. Our skipper said, that when on the Caithness coast, 

 a few years before, an enormous fish of the species kept 

 direct in the wake of his boat for more than a mile, fre- 

 quently rising so near the stern as to be within reach of 

 the boat-hook. He described the expression of its large 

 goggle eyes as at once frightful and amusing ; and so 

 graphic was his narrative that I could almost paint the 

 animal stretching out for more than sixty feet behind the 

 boat, with his black marble-looking skin and cliff-like 

 fins. He at length grew tired of its gambols, and with 

 a sharp fragment of rock struck it between the eyes. It 

 sunk with a sadden plunge and did not rise for ten 

 minutes after, when it appeared a full mile astern. This 

 narrative was but the first of I know not how many of a 

 similar cast, which presented to my imagination the 

 Bhodry-more whale and hunfish in every possible point 

 of view. The latter, a voracious formidable animal of 

 the shark species, frequently makes great havoc among 

 the tackle with which cod and haddock are caught. 

 Like the shark, it throws itself on its back when in the 

 act of seizing its prey. The fishermen frequently see it 

 lying motionless, its white belly glittering through the 

 water, a few fathoms from the boat's side, employed in 



