410 
GRAMPUS. 
How these absurd tales originated, it is impos- 
sible even to conjecture, for the dolphins certainly 
exhibit no marks of peculiar attachment to man- 
kind. If they attend on the vessels navigating the 
ocean, it is in expectation of plunder, and not of 
rendering assistance in cases of distress. By the 
seamen of the present day they are held rather in 
abhorrence than esteem, for their frolics on the 
surface of the water are almost the sure signs of an ap- 
proaching gale. 
The painters both of anticnt and modern times 
have invariably depicted the dolphin with its back 
greatly ineurvated. This crooked form, however* 
is never assumed by the animals, except in the act 
of leaping out of the water. Dolphins are said to 
change their colour before (hey die, and again after 
they are dead. 
Their Mesh was formerly in great esteem ; it 
is, however, very dry and insipid : the best parts 
are those near the head. It is seldom eaten now, 
but when the animals that ane taken happen to 
young and tender. 
Grampus.- 
The grampus is from twenty to twenty-five feet- 
in length, of. a very ferocious disposition, and 
feeds on the larger fishes, and even on tfie dolphin 
and porpesse. It is said, also, to attack other 
whales, and to devour seals, which it occasionally 
finds sleeping on the rocks ; dislodging them by 
means of its back fin, and precipitating' them into 
the water. In its general form and colour it re- 
sembles the rest of its bribe ; but the lower jaw is 
much wider than the uppeiyand the body in pro- 
portion somewhat broader and moi'e deep. The 
kick fin Wn dimes measures six feet in length- 
