CATCHING DOLPHINS. 103 



was really the case, our cook, who was an African negro, never 

 boiled or fried one without placing beside it a dollar. If the 

 silver was not tarnished by the time the dolphin was ready for 

 the table, the fish was presented to the passengers with the 

 assurance that it was perfectly good. But as not a single 

 individual of the hundred that we caught had the property- of 

 converting silver into copper, I suspect that our African sage 

 was no magician. One morning, that of the 22nd of June, the 

 weather sultry, I was surprised, on getting out of my hammock, 

 which was slung on deck, to find the water all round swarming 

 with dolphins, which were sporting in great glee. The sailors 

 assured me that this was a certain 'token of wind,' and, as 

 they watched the movement of the fishes, added, ' ay, and a 

 fair breeze too.' I caught several dolphins iu the course of an 

 hour, after which scarcely any remained about the ship. Not a 

 breath of air came to our relief all that day, nor even the next. 

 " The best bait for the dolphin is a long strip of shark's flesh. 

 I think it generally prefers it to the semblance of a flying-fish, 

 which, indeed, it does not often seize unless when the ship is 

 under weigh, and it is made to rise to the surface. There are 

 times, however, when hunger and the absence of their usual 

 food will induce the dolphins to dash at any sort of bait ; and 

 1 have seen some caught by means of a piece of white linen 

 fastened to a hook. Their appetite is as keen as that of the 

 vulture ; and whenever a good opportunity occurs they gorge 

 themselves to such a degree that they become an easy prey to 

 their enemies, the balaconda and the bottle-nosed porpoise. 

 One that had been brained while lazily swimming immediately 

 under the stem of our ship was found to have its stomach 

 completely crammed with flying-fish, all regularly disposed side 

 by side, with their tails downwards, which suggests that the 

 dolphin swallows its prey tail foremost. They looked, in fact, 

 like so many salted herrings packed in a box, and were, to the 

 number of twenty-two, each six and seven inches in length. 

 The xisual length of the dolphin caught in the Gulf of Mexico 

 is about three feet, and I saw none that exceeded four feet two 

 inches. The weight of one of the latter size was only eighteen 

 pounds, for this fish is extremely narrow in proportion to its 

 . length, although rather deep in its form. When just caught, 



