242 By Stream and Sea. 



A day or two previously, a couple of large hornets gave us 

 a passing call, having been tempted fifteen or eighteen miles 

 from their sunny haunts in Estremadura by a light wind from 

 the land. Under similar conditions butterflies have been 

 seen over a hundred miles at sea. 



A very jolly set of dogs the porpoises appear to be : quite 

 the Mark Tapleys of the sea. Even in captivity, when de- 

 prived of the society of their playfellows, they are admirable 

 examples of making the best of things. A porpoise with 

 whom I was once on intimate calling terms, that lived for a 

 while and died generally lamented in the Brighton Aquarium, 

 used to dart from the farthest limits of its spacious tank at 

 the sound of a whistle, and would take its food gently and 

 mannerly from Mr. Henry Lee's hands. This intelligent 

 member of the whale family was a mature specimen, weigh- 

 ing about seventy pounds, and it ultimately died of diseased 

 liver — the old story, too much to eat and nothing to do, 

 The sea is their proper sphere, and right pleasant it was to 

 watch them in every variety of gambol. 



Porpoises we saw everywhere — members of the same 

 order, at any rate, though perhaps of different species. Some- 

 times they would be small, and sometimes seven feet long, 

 but, light or heavy as their carcases might be, their spirits 

 were at what Tom Moore would call the " highest top- 

 sparkle." They, of course, have their feelings like other folk, 

 and cannot always be in the same mood. Thus to-day they 

 would rise gently like trout, merely touching the surface to 

 blow, and disappearing noiselessly the moment that necessary 

 function was performed. To-morrow they would leap several 

 feet clear out of the water, as if engaged in a high-jump 

 contest, and at such times we could take stock, not only of 

 their sleek hides, but of their sly little eyes. In the morning 

 they would be seen rolling over lazily with that arched back 



