see one of those aquatic chases, of which our friends the Indiamen had been telling us such wonderful stories. We had not long to wait; for the ship, in her progress through the water, soon put up another shoal of these little things, which, as the others had done, took their flight directly to windward. A large Dolphin, which had been keeping company with us abreast of the weather gangway, at the depth of two or three fathoms, and, as usual, glistening most beautifully in the sun, no sooner detected our poor dear little friends take wing, than he turned his head towards them, and, darting to the surface, leaped from the water with a velocity little short, as it seemed, of a cannon-ball. But, although the impetus with which he shot himself into the air gave him an initial velocity greatly exceeding that of the Flying-fish, the start which his fated prey had got enabled them to keep ahead of him for a considerable time. "The length of the Dolphin's first spring could not be less than ten yards; and, after he fell, we could see him gliding like lightning through the water for a moment, when he again rose and shot forwards with considerably greater velocity than at first, and, of course, to a still greater distance. In this manner the merciless pursuer seemed to stride along the sea with fearful rapidity, while his brilliant coat sparkled and flashed in the sun quite splendidly. As he fell headlong on the water at the end of each huge leap, a series of circles were sent far over the still surface, which lay as smooth as a mirror. "The group of wretched Flying-fish, thus hotly pursued, at length dropped into the sea; but we were rejoiced to observe that they merely touched the top of the swell, and scarcely sunk in it: at least, they instantly set off again in a fresh and even more vigorous flight. It was particularly interesting to observe, that the direction they now took was quite different from the one in which they had set out, implying but too obviously that they had detected their fierce enemy, who was following them with giant steps along the waves, and now gaining rapidly upon them. His terrific pace, indeed, was two or three times as swift as theirs, poor little things! "The greedy Dolphin, however, was fully as quick-sighted as the Flying-fish which were trying to elude him; for, whenever they varied their flight in the smallest degree, he lost not the tenth part of a second in shaping a new course, so as to cut off the chase; while they, in a manner really not unlike that of the hare, doubled more than once upon their pursuer. But it was soon too plainly to be seen that the strength and confidence of the Flyingfish were fast ebbing. Their flights became shorter and shorter, and their course more fluttering and uncertain, while the enormous leaps of the Dolphin appeared to grow only more vigorous at each bound. Eventually, indeed, we could see, or fancied that we could see, that this skilful sea-sportsman arranged all his springs with such an assurance of success, that he contrived to fall, at the end of each, just under the very spot on which the exhausted Fly-. ing-fish were about to drop! Sometimes this catastrophe took place at too great a distance for us to see from the deck exactly what happened; but on our mounting high into the rigging, we may be said to have been in at the death; for then we could discover that the unfortunate little creatures, one after another, either popped right into the Dolphin's jaws as they lighted on the water, or were snapped up instantly afterwards. "It was impossible not to take an active part with our pretty little friends of the weaker side, and accordingly we very speedily had our revenge. The middies and the sailors, delighted with the chance, rigged out a dozen or twenty lines from the jibboom end and spritsail-yard-arms with hooks, baited merely with bits of tin, the glitter of which resembles so much that of the body and wings of the Flying-fish, that many a proud Dolphin, making sure of a delicious morsel, leaped in rapture at the deceitful prize. Though these and other recorded anecdotes indubitably refer to the bright pearly fishes just described, there cannot be a doubt that the same habits are found to mark the true Cetaceous Dolphins; while at the same time I confess that I do not recollect any instance in which such pursuit has been witnessed, in my own experience, or recorded in books of voyages. Indeed I do not conceive that the chase of the Flyingfish by the Coryphene has been often witnessed, nor that it can be considered as any other than a rare As the aerial boundings of the Flying occurrence. * Frag. Voy. and Trav. Second Series. Vol. i. p. 244. fish, however, are of constant observation within the tropics, it seems but natural to conclude that they are but the frolicsome putting forth of superabundant animal energy; that they are, in fact, performed in sportive play, as the lamb skips and leaps upon the grass, or the dog pursues its own evasive tail. These flights, generally performed in shoals varying in number from a dozen to a hundred or more, are extremely pleasing, and sustain our interest even long after they have become familiar to us. One is apt, at first sight of a flock, especially if it be unexpected, to mistake them for white birds flying by, till they are seen to alight in the water. The length of the bound is enormous, if it be indeed effected by a single impulse; but this point seems hardly to be satisfactorily settled even yet. I feel persuaded that I have more than once seen them deviate from the uniform curve which they usually describe, rising and sinking alternately so as to keep at the same distance from the undulations of the surface and Humboldt, one of the most accurate of observers, speaks unhesitatingly of their flapping the air with their long fins. Indeed, it would else seem almost impossible to imagine that so small a fish, not so large as a herring, should be able to propel itself to the height of twenty feet, and to the distance of more than six hundred, through the air. Generally, one takes his leap first, then the whole flock follow at once, shooting in nearly a straight line, and skimming along a little above the surface; so little that they often strike the side of a rising wave, and go under water. |