STILL BECALMED. 521 



floated panting in our wake. — But as yet we are becalmed, and heartily 

 displeased at old ^Eolus for overlooking us. 



One afternoon we caught two sharks. In one of them, a female, about 

 seven feet long, we found ten young ones, all alive, and quite capable of 

 swimming, as we proved by experiment ; for, on casting one of them into 

 the sea, it immediately made off, as if it had been accustomed to shift for 

 itself. Of another, that had been cut in two, the head half swam off out 

 of our sight. The rest were cut in pieces, as was the old shark, as bait 

 for the dolphins, which 1 have already said are fond of such food. 



Our captain, who was much intent on amusing me, informed me that 

 the rudder-fishes were plentiful astern, and immediately set to dressing 

 hooks for the purpose of catching them. There was now some air above 

 us, the cotton sheets aloft bulged out, the ship moved through the water, 

 and the captain and I repaired to the cabin window. I was furnished 

 with a fine hook, a thread Une, and some small bits of bacon, as was the 

 captain, and we dropped our bait among the myriads of delicate little 

 fishes below. Up they came, one after another, so fast in succession, that, 

 according to my journal, we caught three hundred and seventy in about 

 two hours. What a mess ! and how delicious when roasted ! If ever I 

 am again becalmed in the Gulf of Mexico, 1 shall not forget the rudder- 

 fish. The little things scarcely measured three inches in length ; they 

 were thin and deep in form, and afforded excellent eating. It was curi- 

 ous to see them keep to the lee of the rudder in a compact body ; and so 

 voracious were they, that they actually leaped out of the water at the 

 sight of the bait, as " sunnies" are occasionally wont to do in our rivers. 

 But the very instant that the ship became still, they dispersed around her 

 sides, and would no longer bite. I made a figure of one of them, as in- 

 deed I tried to do of every other species that occurred during this death- 

 like calm. Not one of these fishes did I ever see when crossing the At- 

 lantic, although many kinds at times come close to the stern of any ves- 

 sel in the great sea, and are called by the same name. 



Another time we caught a fine Porpoise, which measured about two 

 yards in length. This took place at night, when the light of the moon 

 afforded me a clear view of ths spot. The fish, contrary to custom, was 

 grained, instead of being harpooned ; but in such a way and so effectual- 

 ly, through the forehead, that it was thus held fast, and allowed to flounce 

 and beat about the bows of the ship, until the person who had struck it 

 gave the line holding the grains to the Captain, slided down along the 



