NOTES AND QUERIES. 425 



the Dolphin got away with great force and speed, running out about twenty 

 fathoms of cable of twenty-one threads thickness, not, however, before the 

 other end was securely made fast to what fishermen term ' the timmer-head' 

 of the smack. Mr. Galbraith, finding that the Dolphin was fast, at once 

 took the helm, and soon he found that his smack was being rapidly towed 

 through the water. As he had fully four miles of the Sound to cross 

 before he could reach Carradale Pier — the wind, a slight breeze from the 

 north-west, almost a dead head wind for him — he determined to try how 

 far he could guide the Dolphin in the direction of home. Away went the 

 Dolphin at a great speed, coming every now and then to the surface to 

 breathe. At first it made a powerful effort to get rid of the rope which was 

 securely fastened to its tail, so securely that the rope left a deep mark on 

 the skin and flesh. It was observed by Mr. Galbraith that when it came 

 up to the surface in its early efforts to breathe, a jet of water was blown up 

 to a considerable height, but in the later efforts, when the towing of the 

 smack had somewhat exhausted its strength, more of the head was above 

 the surface and for a longer period, and that when it blew no water was 

 thrown out from the blow-hole. This observation is corroborative of what 

 has been stated by some naturalists, that Porpoises and Dolphins do not 

 take in water by the mouth and eject it from the blow-hole in expiration — 

 that the water thrown up in jets is merely the surface, water which is over 

 the blow-hole when it comes up to breathe. In the tow across the Sound, 

 from the Arran shore to the Carradale side, the course of the smack was 

 obliquely upwards, and some difficulty was at first experienced to get the 

 Dolphin to go in a right direction. Sometimes it put on a spurt, turning 

 its head down channel as if determined to make tracks outwards for Ailsa 

 Craig. At other times it headed straight up channel, north and by east, as 

 if it wished to get round Whitefarlan Point and to enter Lochranza. These 

 tactics on the part of the Dolphin did not suit Mr. Galbraith's purpose, 

 and with considerable skill he compelled it to tow him almost straight for 

 Carradale Pier. He says that whenever the Dolphin headed down channel 

 and put a strain upon the tow-rope, he put the tiller, not the helm, hard to 

 starboard. The bow of his smack went rapidly to port, and going con- 

 siderably to port the tow-rope, acting like a long lever upon the tail, turned 

 the Dolphin's head up channel ; and then, when it was going too much to 

 the north, the tiller was put hard to port, which movement sent the smack's 

 head more to starboard and the north than the Dolphin itself: this had 

 the effect of putting the tail to starboard, and sending the head in the 

 opposite direction. In driving a horse, the coachman, through the reins and 

 bit, gets the horse to take the side to which the pressure of the bit in the 

 mouth has been applied. Mr. Galbraith made his fishing skiff pull the 

 tail the one way in order to get the head to take the other. In rather less 

 than an hour the skiff was towed against the wind a distance of four miles. 



