THE MONSTERS OF THE ATLANTIC. 173 



grayish colour, and the flesh resembled that of the 

 bonito or the tunny. It had very large and hand- 

 some eyes. Generally speaking," he added, " the 

 saw-fish can only be taken after it has had a 

 desperate struggle with a whale, a spectacle which 

 cannot often be witnessed, but which, when it can 

 be seen, is sufficiently astonishing to amaze the most 

 experienced. The saw-fish travel in schools, like 

 the whales themselves, and when two parties meet, 

 the struggle sometimes has all the character of a 

 submarine battle. When they meet, the saw-fish 

 announce their presence by leaping up into the air, 

 and the whales serry their ranks and prepare for 

 action. The saw-fish then attack in line, and the 

 action becomes general. The saw-fish always endea- 

 vours to take its antagonist in flank, either because 

 its cruel instinct has revealed to it the weak place in 

 the whale's armour (a spot close to the lateral fins, 

 where a wound is mortal), or because the side offers 

 a fairer and larger surface to its blows. The saw- 

 fish, however, first recedes, the better to make its 

 attack, and if the movement escapes the watchful 

 eye of the whale, the latter is certainly lost ; but if 

 the whale sees the saw-fish at the moment when it 

 is about to attack him, he leaps out of the water 

 the whole length of his body, with an instantaneous 

 bound, and comes down again with a shock that 

 may be heard leagues away, lashing the sea into 

 foam." 



