76 
MAMMALIA, 
and particularly on Salmon. These try in vain to escape from their 
enemy ; their manoeuvres are generally defeated with marvellous 
address. Travellers, who have witnessed the pursuit of the Sal- 
mon by the Porpoise, say that it is a very curious and amusing 
sight. 
The Porpoise abounds in our (French) seas ; it even comes up 
the rivers, and has been sometimes seen at Fouen, and even as far 
as Paris. In the middle ages, Porpoise hunting was of a certain 
importance to the European nations ; for its flesh was then much 
sought after by all classes of society. The pursuit of them is still 
carried on in the north, either for their flesh, which is eaten 
Fig. 21. — Porpoise. 
by the Laplanders and Greenlanders, or for their fat, which is 
sent into Europe. 
The common Porpoise is one of the smallest of the animals of this 
family; the Grampus, or the Gladiator Dolphin (Orca), is, on the 
other hand, one of the largest animals of its group, attaining to 
eight metres in length. 
The Grampus is common in northern seas. It is a very strong 
and excessively voracious animal. Sir Joseph Banks says that 
a Grampus, which had been struck with harpoons and made 
fast to a boat, towed it with four people in it, in spite of a strong 
