4 8 
CETACEANS. 
produced after a period of six months’ gestation. Three porpoises which were 
enclosed by a fence in the Wareham River in Dorsetshire, many years ago, are 
reported to have incessantly uttered the most distressing cries, which were continued 
by night as well as by day. 
Porpoise- Formerly porpoises were esteemed in England for their flesh, 
Hunting. but they are now taken mainly for their oil, although the skin is also 
sometimes used. The leather commonly known as porpoise-hide is, however, as we 
have already had occasion to mention, generally made from the skin of the white 
whale. On parts of the coast of North America, porpoise-shooting is regularly 
practised by the Indians; and this pursuit affords to the Passamaquody tribe their 
chief means of support. The average yield of oil will be about three gallons, and 
in a good season an Indian may kill from one hundred to one hundred and fifty 
porpoises. “ To make a successful porpoise-hunter,” writes Mr. C. C. Ward, 
“ requires five or six years of constant practice. Boys, ten or twelve years of age, 
are taken out in the canoes by the men, and thus early trained in the pursuit of 
that which is to form their main support in after years. Porpoise-shooting is 
followed at all seasons and in all kinds of weather—in the summer sea, in the 
boisterous autumn gales, and in the dreadful icy seas of mid-winter. In a calm 
summer day, the porpoise can be heard blowing for a long distance. The Indians, 
guided by the sound long before they can see the game, paddle rapidly in the 
direction from which the sound comes, and rarely fail to secure the porpoise. They 
use long smooth-bored guns, loaded with a handful of powder, and a heavy charge 
of double-B shot. As soon as the porpoise is shot, they paddle rapidly up to him 
and kill him with a spear, to prevent his flopping about and upsetting the canoe 
after they have taken him aboard. The manner of taking a porpoise on board is 
to insert two fingers of the right hand into the blowhole, take hold of the pectoral 
fin with the left hand, and lift the creature up until at least one half of his length 
is above the gunwale of the canoe, and then drag him aboard. This is comparatively 
easy to accomplish in smooth water, but when the feat is performed in a heavy sea, 
one can hardly realise the skill and daring required. In rough weather, with a 
high sea running, the Indian is compelled to stand up in his canoe when he fires, 
otherwise he could not see his game. In such work as this, one would suppose that 
upsets would be unavoidable; but, strange to say, they seldom happen, and only 
under circumstances where the Indian’s skill or foresight is unavailing.” 
Although Mr. True believes that there are two other species of 
porpoise with back-fins inhabiting American waters, it will be 
unnecessary to allude further to them here; and we accordingly pass on to the 
Indian porpoise (P. ‘phocainoides). This species is readily distinguished by the 
absence of the back-fin, and the reduced number of the teeth, of which there are 
about eighteen on each side of the jaws. Of small size, it is less than 4 feet in 
length, and is of a uniform black colour. It inhabits the shores of the Indian 
Ocean, from the Cape of Good Hope to Japan; and has been taken in many of the 
tidal rivers of India, and in the Yang-tse-Kiang, at a distance of nearly one 
thousand miles from its mouth. 
The following account of the habits of this species is given by 
Mr. F. W. Sinclair, who states that it “ frequents the tidal creeks, 
Indian Porpoise. 
Habits. 
