DOLPHIN. 509 



him, and called Simo^ were the Dolphin never so 

 close hidden in any secret and blind corner, out 

 he would and come abroad, yea and scud amaine 

 to this lad : and taking bread and other victuals 

 at his hand, would gently offer him his back to 

 mount upon, and then down went the sharp- 

 pointed * prickes of his finnes, which he would 

 put up as it were within a sheath, for fear of hurt- 

 ing the boy. Thus when he had him once on his 

 back he would carry him over the broad arme of 

 the sea, as far as Puteoli to schoole ; and in like 

 manner convey him back again home : and thus he 

 continued for many yeeres together, so long as the 

 child lived. But when the boy was falne sicke and 

 dead, yet the Dolphin gave not over his haunt, 

 but usually came to the woonted place, and miss- 

 ing the lad, seemed to be heavy and mourne 

 again, untill for verie griefe and sorrow (as it is 

 doubtless to be presumed) he also was found dead 

 upon the shore. " 



The voice of the Dolphin is, according to 

 Pliny, a sound resembling a human groan ; and 

 Willoughby quotes, from Gillius, a passage illus- 

 trative of this circumstance. 



A captis delphinis, &c. &c.''— In a vessel 

 where several Dolphins were confined, I passed a 

 night of great uneasiness, so feelingly did these 

 poor animals express the misery of their condition 

 by cries and lamentations resembling the human. 



* From this observation it should seem that Pliny had not ver/ 

 accurately examined the Dolphin. 



