THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 199 
see one of those aquatic chases, of which our friends 
the Indiamen had been telling us such wonderful 
stories. We had ngt long to wait; for the ship, 
in her progress through the water, soon put up 
another shoal of these little things, which, as the 
others had done, took their flight directly to wind- 
ward. A large Dolphin, which had been keeping 
company with us abreast of the weather gangway, 
at the depth of two or three fathoms, and, as usual, 
glistening most beautifully in the sun, no sooner 
detected our poor, dear 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 
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 bril- 
liant coat sparkled and flashed in the sun quite splen- 
didly. 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. 
