FISH — GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. 253 



threshers springing several yards into the air descended with 

 great violence upon the object of their rancour, and inflicted 

 upon him the most severe slaps with their long tails, the sounds 

 of which resembled the reports of muskets fired at a distance. 

 The sword-fish in their turn attacked the distressed whale, stab- 

 bing from below : and thus beset on all sides and wounded, 

 when the poor creature appeared, the water around him was 

 dyed with blood. In this manner they continued tormenting 

 and wounding him for many hours, until we lost sight of him ; 

 and I have no doubt they in the end completed his destruction. 

 The master of a fishing-boat has recently observed that the 

 thresher-shark serves out the whales, the sea sometimes being 

 all blood. One whale, attacked by these fish, once took refuge 

 under his vessel, where it lay an hour and a half without moving 

 a fin. He also remarked having seen the threshers jump out of 

 the water as high as the mast-head and down upon the whale, 

 while the sword fish was wounding him from beneath the two 

 sorts of fish evidently acting in concert. 



