278 THE CORYPHENE. 



The Coryphene Is a most voracious creature, feeding chiefly upon the finny inhabit- 

 ants 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 which 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 exhausted 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 un- 

 fortunate 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 indiscriminating Coryphene seizes them and pays the penalty of its voracity. Some- 

 times 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 



