THE PORPESSE. 24? 



The greater number came close to the wall, however, 

 and were left nearly dry, and subjected to all sorts of 

 wounds. Here one man was hacking with a hatchet, 

 or the edge of a shovel ; there another was aiming a 

 blow at the head of one fish with a pick-axe, while the 

 flap of the tail of another sent him and his pick-axe 

 into the mud. Two were uniting their force at one 

 place, in order to give a death thrust with a crow-bar ; 

 while on the neck of one of the largest, sat a stone- 

 mason, malletting his pointed chisel into the skull. 

 The place soon became a sea of blood ; and what with 

 that, and the natural slipperiness of the skins, together 

 with the convulsive struggles of the wounded animals, 

 ever and anon caused some one to souse into the mire, 

 to the great amusement of the rest. The splutter, the 

 activity, the shouting, and the jocularity and glee with 

 which the whole was conducted, formed a scene to 

 which no pen, and hardly any pencil, could do justice. 



The largest of these animals was more than twenty 

 feet long, and the smallest more than twelve. They 

 produced very little oil. 



The cetaceous animal found most frequently and 

 habitually upon the British shores, is 



THE PORPESSE. 



THE PORPESSE (delphinus phoctena) is comparatively 

 a short animal, being seldom more than six feet long, 

 but it is very thick and fat ; hence the common saying, 

 " As fat as a porpesse." The weight of the porpesse 

 is great for its length. One, only five feet three inches 

 in length, examined by Dr. Fleming, to whom natural 



