CETACEOUS FISHES. 



625 



deed, their too eager pursuits expose them 

 to danger; and a shoal of herrings often al- 

 lures them out of their depth. In such a case, 

 the hungry animal continues to flounder in 

 the shallows till knocked on the head, or till 

 the returning tide seasonably comes to its re- 

 lief. But all this tribe, and the dolphin in 

 particular, are not less swift than destructive. 

 No fish could escape tliem, but from the awk- 

 ward position of the mouth, which is placed 

 in a manner under the head : yet, even with 

 these disadvantages, their depredations are 

 so great, that they have been justly styled the 

 plunderers of the deep. 



What could induce the ancients to a pre- 

 dilection in favour of these animals, particu- 

 larly the dolphin, it is not easy to account for. 

 Historians and philosophers seem to have 

 contended who should invent the greatest 

 number of fables concerning them. The dol- 

 phin was celebrated in the earliest time for 

 its fondness to the human race, and was dis- 

 tinguished by the epithets of the boy-loving 

 and philanthropist. Scarcely an accident 

 could happen at sea, but the dolphin offered 

 himself to convey the unfortunate to shore. 

 The musician flung into the sea by pirates, 

 the boy taking an airing in the midst of the 

 sea, and returning again in safety, were obli- 

 ged to the dolphin for its services. It is not 

 easy, I say, to assign a cause why the anci- 

 ents should thus have invented so many fa- 

 bles in their favour. The figure of these ani- 

 mals is far from prejudicing us in their in- 

 terests ; their extreme rapacity tends still 

 less to endear them ; I know nothing that can 

 reconcile them to man and excite his preju- 

 dices, except that when taken they sometimes 

 have a plaintive moan, with which they con- 

 tinue to express their pain till they expire. 

 This, at first, might have excited human pity; 

 and that might have produced affection. At 

 present, these fishes are regarded even by 

 the vulgar in a very different light; their ap- 

 pearance is far from being esteemed a favour- 

 able omen by the seamen ; and from their 

 boundings, springs, and frolics in the water, 

 experience has taught the mariners to pre- 

 pare for a storm. 



But it is not to one circumstance only that 

 the ancients have confined their fabulous re- 

 ports concerning these animals ; as from their 



leaps out of their element, they assume a tem- 

 porary curvature, which is by no means their 

 natural figure in the water, the old painters 

 and sculptors have universally drawn them 

 wrong. A dolphin is scarcely ever exhibited 

 by the ancients in a straight shape, but curv- 

 ed, in the position which they sometimes ap- 

 pear when exerting their force; and the 

 poets too have adopted the general error. 

 Even Pliny, the best naturalist, has asserted, 

 that they instantly die when taken out of the 

 water ; but Rondelet, on the contrary, assures 

 us that he has seen a dolphin carried alive 

 from Montpelier to Lyons. 



The moderns have more just notions of 

 these animals ; and have got over the many 

 fables, which every day's experience contra- 

 dicts. Indeed their numbers are so great, 

 and, though shy, they are so often taken, that 

 such peculiarities, if they were possessed of 

 any, would have been long since ascertained. 

 They are found, the porpoise especially, in 

 such vast numbers, in all parts of the sea that 

 surrounds this kingdom, that they are some- 

 times noxious to seamen, when they sail in 

 small vessels. In some places they almost 

 darken the water as they rise to take breath, 

 and particularly before bad weather are much 

 agitated, swimming against the wind, and tum- 

 bling about with unusual violence. 



Whether these motions be the gambols of 

 pleasure or the agitations of terror, is not well 

 known. It is most probable that they dread 

 those seasons of turbulence, when the lesser 

 fishes shrink to the bottom, and their prey 

 no longer offers in such abundance. In times 

 of fairer weather they are seen herding toge- 

 ther, and pursuing shoals of various fish with 

 great impetuosity. Their method of hunting 

 their game, if it may be so called, is to follow 

 in a pack, and thus give each other mutual 

 assistance. At that season, when the macka- 

 rel, the herring, the salmon, and other fish of 

 passage, begin to make their appearance, the 

 cetaceous tribes are seen fierce in the pursuit; 

 urging their prey from one creek or bay to 

 another, deterring them from* the shallows, 

 driving them towards each other's ambush, 

 and using a greater variety of arts than hounds 

 are seen to exert in pursuing the hare. How- 

 ever, the porpoise not only seeks for prey 

 near the surface, but often descends to the 



