THE MONSTERS OF THE ATLANTIC. 171 



escape, but v/e knocked them about without pity, 

 and managed so well that, out of fourteen porpoises, 

 nine "bit the dust" — of the waves; the others 

 managed to escape by diving, and we saw them no 

 more. 



One of the most curious incidents in this adven- 

 ture was the feat of one of our friends, a certain 

 Dick Moon, who had -not swallowed a mouthful 

 when the black servant announced the arrival of the 

 porpoises. He jumped into the water, and seeing 

 one of the huge creatures within reach, caught hold 

 of it by the fins, and steered it towards land, where 

 eight victims were already lying side by side. A 

 paragraph went the round of the papers, recounting 

 this adventure, with all our names given at full 

 length, — a practice which is much in vogue in the 

 States, but which is scarcely in accordance with 

 European taste, 



I must return, however, to the San Christoval, 

 now in full sail before a fair wind, which brought 

 us into the port of Savannah twenty-four hours 

 afterwards. As we went along we took a saw- 

 fish and a narwhal, — two other species of the 

 monsters of the Atlantic, which find their way into 

 our waters. The captain of the Sail Christoval (a 

 regular old sea- wolf, who had had plenty of experience 

 in the Labrador fisheries and on the Californian 

 coast, after whalebone and oil), gave me the follow- 

 ing account of these two creatures. 



