THE KILLER. II3 



Dredgings carried on in so shallow water as four and 

 six fathoms revealed pelicans' feet Qzporrhais) in abun- 

 dance and very fine large Serripes groenlandica, and with 

 them in the mud and sand a great abundance of nemer- 

 tean and other worms, and Amphipod Crustacea, with 

 fine examples of Cuma bispinosa. 



The principal house-owner at this fishing-station was 

 a Mr. Buckle, who had been out here for twelve years 

 from Boston. To his comfortable house was attached a 

 conservatory and garden. Though the scanty soil on 

 this barren point looked unpromising- enough, it was 

 comparatively rich. He had built his own schooner, a 

 vessel of thirty tons. 



On the beach was the skull of a " killer" ; it had re- 

 cently been brought ashore and was surrounded by a 

 number of hungry whelks {Buccimnii tmdaiunt) which 

 were cleaning off the flesh from the bones. The killer 

 is the most voracious of the smaller cetaceans, and is the 

 bulldog among the whales. The head is very blunt, the 

 skull thick, the jaws powerful, the teeth longer than 

 those of the grampus. It is at once known when swim- 

 ming in the water by its high, narrow, pointed dorsal 

 fin, which projects five or six feet out of water. It at- 

 tacks with great boldness and pertinacity the right and 

 finback whales, gouging out from their lips and side 

 lumps of flesh, and, as Captain Handy told me, is espe- 

 cially fond of the whaJe's tongue. 



The next day we walked inland, following up the 

 stream which empties into the Gulf at Belles Amours. 

 We, however, took the wrong side of the brook and failed 

 to see the cascade wh6re the stream, as we were told, 

 falls down over a precipice forty feet high ; but from a 



