OEDEE, OP CETACEA. T3 



to tie a Dolphin by the tail" (veulent Her tin Dauphin par la 

 queue). 



It is principally with the assistance of this powerful tail that 

 the Dolphin swims with such rapidity, and that it has gained for 

 itself the title of " sea-arrow " (fleche de la mer). 



When these Cetaceans — which go in numerous troops, and in a 

 certain order — meet with a ship, they follow it, so as to catch the 

 fish which the refuse thrown from the ship attracts in quantities. 

 At whatever speed the ship may be either sailing or steaming, 

 they keep up with it, and play about among the waves, bounding, 

 turning over and over, and never tiring of frisking and tumbling, 

 affording continual amusement to the crew. Their leaps, their 

 circumvolutions, their light manoeuvres, the prettiness of their 

 form and colour, afford a recreation to navigators fatigued by the 

 monotony of a long sea voyage. 



Many authors have said that the Dolphin leaps sometimes high 

 enough above the surface of the water to jump on board small 

 vessels. They say that in this case the animal curves its body 

 round with force, bends its tail like a bow, and then unbends it, 

 in such a manner as to fly like the arrow from a bow. 



When they saw these animals following their ships, the sailors 

 imagined that they were accompanying them from an instinct of 

 sociability ; they have even gone so far as to say that these 

 animals had a sort of affection for seamen. Of course, these ideas 

 are unfounded. 



One may read in the Traite de la Navigation, by P. Fournier, 

 a curious anecdote respecting the Dolphin. On the 1st of Sep- 

 tember, 1638, fifteen French galleys were preparing to engage 

 in action with as many Spanish and Sicilian vessels, which had on 

 board, besides the ordinary complement of rowers and sailors, 

 3,500 foot soldiers. 



"The orders received," says P. Fournier, "each one took his 

 post, and the captain of the enemy was already in the midst of 

 his fourteen galleys, when, behold, suddenly eighty or a hundred 

 dolphins appeared on the water, and grouped themselves rotmd 

 the French captain, bounding on the waves, gliding from bow to 

 stern, leaping towards the enemy, and playing a thousand antics 

 which made all the crew break out incontinently into these joyous 

 •v^ords — 'Vive le roi ! nous aurons du BaiipMnf — taking this 



