THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. Ig3 



lashed into boiling foam, reddened with the life-blood 

 that is fast ebbing from his wound. Two or three 

 of the most agile now jump into the fore-chains, 

 with the end of a rope formed into a running noose; 

 they hang this down into the water, and endeavour 

 to get the bight over his tail; many trials are un- 

 successfully made to do this, for the frantic motions 

 of the animal render it a very difficult operation; at 

 length, however, it is drawn over, tightened, and the 

 prey is considered secure. It is now comparatively 

 easy, with the aid of a boat-hook, to pass another 

 rope under the body, just behind the breast-fins, and 

 then he is soon hoisted on deck. I have been asto- 

 nished to observe how very inadequate is the notion 

 one forms of the dimensions of these animals by see- 

 ing them only in the water; an individual that mea- 

 sures eight feet in length, appearing in water not 

 more than four or five. The muscular power is very 

 great, but is chiefly concentrated in the tail, and, 

 therefore, when the animal is removed from its na- 

 tive element, it is almost helpless, its exertions being 

 confined to the violent blows which it inflicts upon 

 the deck with this broad and powerful organ. In 

 all essential particulars, the Dolphin agrees with the 

 Whale already described, being of the same order; 

 but it differs in having an upright fin on the back, 

 and both the upper and lower jaws armed with nume- 

 rous small, close, and pointed teeth. In one speci- 

 men which I saw captured, I counted one hundred 

 and fifty-two in all; they are beautifully regular, 

 and those of one jaw fit into the interstices of the 

 other. The Dolphin differs from the Porpesse (Pho- 



