278 THE CORYPHENE. 



The Coryphene is a most voracious creature, feeding chiefly upon the finny inhabitants 

 of the water, and being especially celebrated for its attacks upon the flying-fish. Captain 

 Basil Hall has given so graphic and so pleasing a description of one of their chases, that 

 the narrative must be given in his own words. The reader will understand that whenever 

 the word dolphin is employed by the author, the Coryphene is the species to whicli 

 he alludes. 



" A large Dolphin, which had been keeping company with us abreast of the weather- 

 gangway at the length of two or three fathoms, and as usual glistening most beautifully in 

 the sun, no sooner detected our poor little friends take wing, than he turned his head 

 towards them, and, darting to the surface, leaped from the water with a velocity little short, 

 as it seemed, of a cannon ball But although the impetus with which he shot himself 

 into the air gave him an initial velocity greatly exceeding that of the flying-fish, the start 

 which his ill-fated prey had got, enabled them to keep ahead of him for a considerable 

 time. 



The length of the Dolphin's first spring could not be less than ten yards ; and after 

 he fell, we could see him gliding like lightning through the water for a moment, when he 

 again rose and shot forwards with considerably greater velocity than at first, and of course 

 to a still greater distance. In this manner the merciless pursuer seemed to stride along 

 the sea with fearful rapidity, while his brilliant coat sparkled and flashed in the sun quite 

 splendidly. As he fell headlong on the water at the end of each huge leap, a series of 

 circles were sent far over the still surface, which lay as smooth as a mirror. 



The group of wretched flying-fish, thus hotly pursued, at length dropped into the sea, 

 but we were rejoiced to observe that they merely touched the top of the swell and 

 scarcely sunk in it ; at least they instantly set off again in a fresh and even more vigorous 

 flight. It was -particularly interesting to observe that the direction they now took was 

 quite different from the one in which they had set out, implying but too obviously that 

 they had detected their fierce enemy, who was following them with giant steps across the 

 waves and now gaining rapidly upon them. His terrific pace indeed, was two or three 

 times as swift as theirs, poor little things. 



The greedy Dolphin, however, was fully as quick-sighted as the flying-fish which were 

 trying to elude him, for whenever they varied their flight in the smallest degree, he lost 

 not the tenth part of a second in shaping a new course so as to cut off the chase, while 

 they, in a manner really not unlike that of the hare, doubled more than once upon their 

 pursuer. But it was soon too plainly to be seen that the strength and confidence of the 

 flying-fish were fast ebbing. Their flights became shorter and shorter, and their course 

 more fluttering and uncertain, while the enormous leaps of the Dolphin appeared to grow 

 more vigorous at each bound. 



Eventually we could see, or fancied that we could see, that this skilful sea-sportsman 

 arranged all his springs with such an assurance of success, that he contrived to fall at the 

 end of each, just under the very spot on which the exausted flying^fish were about to 

 drop. Sometimes this catastrophe took place at too great a distance for us to see from the 

 deck exactly what happened ; but on our mounting high into the rigging, we may be said 

 to have been in at the death, for then we could discover that the unfortunate little 

 creatures, one after another, either popped right into the Dolphin's jaws as they lighted 

 on the water, or were snapped up instantly afterwards." 



The Coryphene, however, often pays the penalty of its voracity, for, independently of 

 the innate quality of destructiveness, which alone would induce the spectators to catch 

 and kill the fish, the sailors are urged by the excellence of its flesh, which will afford 

 them a welcome repast on fresh meat. They therefore bait a number of hooks in a very 

 simple manner, by cutting some strips of glittering tin into the rude semblance of the 

 flying-fish, attaching them to the hooks and dangling them in the air, where the indiscri- 

 nating Coryphene seizes them and pays the penalty of its voracity. Sometimes the 

 Coryphene is captured by a strong-armed and sure-eyed sailor, who gets on the bowsprit, 

 so as to overhang the water, and hurling at the fish a kind of barbed trident, technically 

 called the "grains," the barbed points strike deeply into the flesh, and the fish 



