From Newcastle to Port Said. 243 



which leads many people to entertain a very erroneous 

 opinion of the animal's shape j in the aftenioon they would 

 try their speed against that of the ship, and in every case 

 would out-distance her. 



We entertained ourselves by backing our favourites, and 

 some excellent sport they gave us. A shoal of eight on one 

 occasion ranged up close to the ship, and without any 

 apparent effort kept a level pace until, apparently satisfying 

 themselves that the Queensland was their inferior, they gave 

 a frisky plunge out of the water, shot ahead at the rate of 

 twelve miles an hour, and in very wantonness darted across 

 the stem before going down into the blue depths with a lively 

 flourish. In the shoal you would generally find one or two 

 specially " larky" individuals, who were clever at maintaining 

 a sinuous course, at vaulting head over heels, at imitating 

 under water the flight of a bird, and at turning and twisting, 

 so that you could contrast the dark greenish-brown with the 

 dirty white underclothing. 



If sometimes they rose like trout, at others they would, 

 also like trout, of a sudden, without any apparent cause, 

 cease playing, and withdraw from our gaze. The smallest 

 porpoises were those off Cape St. Vincent. They were, 

 perhaps, under twenty pounds in weight. The largest were 

 leaping high in the air off more southern seas, and there 

 were specimens amongst them that could not be far short of 

 two hundredweight each. 



The good Saint Anthony must have been a good deal of 

 a humourist if he really preached that sermon yonder to the 

 fishes. By great good luck, one of the books in the ship's 

 library contained Addison's translation of the famous homily, 

 and after enjoying it over a Sunday afternoon cigar near the 

 pigeon-haunted island of Pantellaria, I copied an extract or 

 two for the benefit of such readers as have not met with the 

 composition. 



