THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 183 
lashed into boiling foam, reddened with the life-blood 
that is fast ebbing from his wound. Two or three 
of the most agile now jump into the fore-chains, 
with the end of a rope formed into a running noose; 
they hang this down into the water, and endeavour 
to get the bight over his tail; many trials are un- 
successfully made to do this, for the frantic motions 
of the animal render it a very difficult operation; at 
length, however, it is drawn over, tightened, and the 
prey is considered secure. It is now comparatively 
easy, with the aid of a boat-hook, to pass another 
rope under the body, just behind the breast-fins, and 
then he is soon hoisted on deck. I have been asto- 
nished to observe how very inadequate is the notion 
one forms of the dimensions of these animals by see- 
ing them only in the water; an individual that mea- 
sures eight feet in length, appearing in water not 
more than four or five. The muscular power is very 
great, but is chiefly concentrated in the tail, and, 
therefore, when the animal is removed from its na- 
tive element, it is almost helpless, its exertions being 
confined to the violent blows which it inflicts upon 
the deck with this broad and powerful organ. In 
all essential particulars, the Dolphin agrees with the 
Whale already described, being of the same order; 
but it differs in having an upright fin on the back, 
and both the upper and lower jaws armed with nume- 
rous small, close, and pointed teeth. In one speci- 
men which I saw captured, I counted one hundred 
and fifty-two in all; they are beautifully regular, 
and those of one jaw fit into the interstices of the 
other. The Dolphin differs from the Porpesse (Pho- 
