AND MANATEES 



distance, for big shoals of them frequently put in an 

 appearance close to the shore : Hunstanton and the neigh- 

 bourhood is a good place to see them. These animals 

 bring out, as strongly as anything, the fisherman's rooted 

 belief in the Infernal Powers as a creative force. " The 

 Almighty never could ha' made sich varmints as them," 

 observed a really saintly old salmon-fisher who was giving 

 me an account of their depredations among the Nor- 

 wegian salmon. And indeed the porpoise's appetite for 

 these fish is so insatiable that it will pursue them up the 

 rivers. For a small shoal to take a trip up the Seine as 

 far as Rouen is a mere nothing ; it is a matter of history 

 that they have been seen even beyond Paris. Nor is it 

 only the salmon that appeals to their greed. Ask the 

 herring and mackerel fleets their opinion anent the por- 

 poise. It breaks up the shoals, rushes like a bull at a 

 gate against a fleet of herring-nets, with disastrous results 

 to the owners, and harries the mackerel literally to death. 

 It is the smallest of the cetacean tribe ; one of them 

 that measured five feet from tip to tail would be of 

 average size. It has a dolphin-like body, though with 

 rounder muzzle and head. A shoal of porpoises is like an 

 immense black shiny patch on the water; so closely do 

 they crowd together and in such vast numbers, that it is 

 difficult to understand how they can move at all. They 

 exhibit all the love of playing and gambolling that is 

 seen among the dolphins, and as much curiosity as a fish 

 or an Arab ; hence perhaps some of the gruesome nurse- 

 maid tales about the "sea-horses" that swim after and 

 devour the unwary bather. 



271 



