AN EAST INDIAMAN ATTACKED BY A SWORD-FISH.

P. 336

CHAPTER XXVI.

BEAUTIFUL FISHES.

"Shoals

Of fish that with their fins and shining scales
Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft
Bank the mid-sea;

Or, sporting with quick glance,
Show to the sun their waved coats dropped with gold."

N remarking upon beautiful fishes, it would be quite out of the limits of a small publication like the present to

attempt more than a bare mention of a few species of the ocean inhabitants which possess, in a special degree, the attributes to which this term may be applied. Among the most prominent of beautiful fishes is the Dolphin, which, however, belongs to an extensive family, including the porpoise, grampus, &c., and animals which, on account of their large size, are commonly called whales. The Atlantic species of the dolphin (the Exquisitis of Linnæus) exhibits the general form of these fishes, and their colouring, so remarkable for the variation of its tints; a play of vivid green and gold and silver being spread over it in various lights, and changing as it dies.

"Parting day

Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang embues

With a new colour as it gasps away,

The last still loveliest till 't is gone-and all is grey."

Falconer, in the "Shipwreck," thus describes the death of the dolphin after it has been struck by the harpooner:

338

GHANGING COLOURS OF THE DOLPHIN.

"On deck he struggles with convulsive pain;
But while his heart the fatal javelin thrills,
And fleeting life escapes in sanguin'd rills,
What radiant changes strike th' astonished sight
With glowing hues of mingled shade and light!
No equal beauties gild the lucid West,
With parting beams o'er all profusely drest;
No lovelier colours paint the vernal dawn,
When Orient dews impearl th' enamelled lawn,
Than from his sides in bright suffusion flow,
That now with gold empyreal seem to glow,
Now in pellucid sapphires meet the view,
And emulate the soft celestial hue,
Now beam a flaming crimson to the eye,
And now assume the purple's deeper dye.

But here description clouds each shining ray:

What terms of art can Nature's power display?"

There are, however, many other fish that change colour before they die. "I have seen," remarks Mr. Adams, "species of the cat-fish change from a warm and glowing smalt during the last pangs to a dull leaden hue, losing at the same time the delicate pinky tinge of the sides and abdomen. The common sucking-fish, from a brown, bright, shining, blackish colour, changes even in the water to a leaden hue, and as it dies assumes a tan-colour, which grows paler by degrees and turns to a dingy white."

When swimming near the surface of the water, and glittering beneath the light of a cloudless sky, the dolphins appear clothed in the richest gold, and to have the starry lustre of the topaz and sapphire. Two species have been named, from the variety and vividness of their tints, the "sea-peacock" and the "blue-fish."

The true dolphin has the snout prolonged into a rather slender beak, whence the French have applied to it the name of "the goose of the sea." It was very differently regarded and designated by the ancients, who looked upon it as a sacred fish, and dedicated it to Apollo, who was worshipped at Delphi with dolphins for his symbols. The name is given to one of the fairest provinces of France-Dauphiny, from which the heir-apparent of the throne formerly derived his title of "Dauphin."

Wondrously beautiful, indeed, are these gay inhabitants of the

DOLPHINS IN PURSUIT OF FLYING-FISHES. 339

seas, especially when seen playing and springing from the water, when they assume the curved shape that is not natural to them, but which old painters and sculptors have always given them: "Upon the swelling waves the dolphins show

Their bending backs, then swiftly darting go,

And in a thousand wreaths their bodies throw."

They are, however, very voracious animals, and are said to prey not only on other fishes, but their own species. The flying-fish in particular comes in for a share of their pursuit. Captain Basil Hall gives a vivid description of their operations:

"Shortly after observing a cluster of flying-fish rise out of the water, we discovered two or three dolphins ranging past the ship in all their beauty, and watched with some anxiety to see one of those aquatic chases of which our friends, the Indiamen, had been telling 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 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 the still surface, which lay as smooth as a mirror.