168 SrORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



I had never seen these monsters of the Atlantic so 

 close before, so I scrutinised their movements with 

 some cm-iosity. I should have thought that they 

 rolled themselves over like a wheel ; but this illusion 

 is produced by the movement of two fins, each about 

 two feet long, which appear above the surface and 

 disappear with extraordinary rapidity. Sailors and 

 those who are acquainted with their habits testify 

 that the porpoise is very pacific, and lives principally 

 upon shrimps. The whale-fishers, however, think 

 them worth harpooning when they come to sport 

 under the stern of the vessel. The great agility of 

 the creature renders his capture extremely difficult, 

 and it requires no common amount of skill to transfix 

 him with the first stroke of the harpoon. 



Porpoises have not been made the subject of 

 wonderful stories like the sharks ; but there are 

 maritime superstitions in which they take their part. 

 The sailors maintain that they always swim in the 



Henry VIII. porpoises were also served. They were dished up roasted, 

 boiled, as pies, and, finally, as "delicious puddings." The recipes for 

 the proper sauces for porpoises have been preserved, and the poets of 

 the fifteenth century have sung of them. The flesh of the porpoise was 

 in favour until the sixteenth century. It was served at Wolsey's table ; 

 and when Somerset and other lords of the Star Chamber dined together 

 upon grand occasions, they enjoyed a porpoise which had cost about 

 eight shillings. Queen Elizabeth herself, (who was supposed to ha^e a 

 very finely educated taste,) pronounced in favour of the porpoise. It 

 was sold in market overt at Newcastle up to 1575, after which time 

 it seems to have passed out of consideration. 



