Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-10-23
EVENING STAR,
The Porpoise.


" These feetest coursers of the snnv ,,c.
When threatening clouds tn ethereal vault de-
face. '' "e-
Their route to leeward still sag.cious form.
10 shun the fury Of the approaching storm -
lGedmas
On a recent visit to Ocean View we had tho
pleasure Of seeing porpoise which had been
brought ashore by the seine. 1t wss sbout
seven feet in length, with its body thick To-.
wards the head, growing slender towards the
tail. 1t struck US as resembling in shape some
huge bird with its wings clipped. Each Jaw
contained forty teeth-smsll, sharp pointed
and movable, and go placed hat the teeth Of
one jaw locked into those of the other its eyes
were small, as also the spout-hole at the top of
its head; its back was nearly black, and its
belly very light blue, in some parts almost
white.
1t may not be uninterestilg to our readers
to recall their knowledge of this inhabitant of
the deep, as described by Button.
The pOrpoise is a cetaceous fish, resembling
quadrupeds in their internal structure, and
In some OF their appetites and affections Their
heart resembles that of auadrupeds. with its
partitions closed up as in them, and driving
red and warm blood in circulation through
the body, and to keep these parts warm, the
porpoise Is also covered between the skin and
muscles with thick coat of fat or blubber.
AS these animals breathe the air il is obvious
tnat tDey cannot bear to be under the water
long; they are constrained, therefore, every
TWO or three minutes, to come up to the sur
face to take breath, as well as to spout ont
through their nostril Cfor they have but one)
that water which they sucked in while gaping
for their prey.
Bat il is in the circumstances in which they
continue their kind, that these animals show
eminent superiority Other fish deposit their
spawn, and leave the success TO accident;
n1r-aa
at the most and this the female suckles en-
tlreiy In the manner Of quadrupeds, her breast
being placed. as in the human kind, above
the navel. Their tails also are different from
these OF ell other fish they are placed so as
to lie fat on the surface of the water, while
the other kinds have them, as we every day
see, upright or edgeways. This fat position
OF the tall enables them to force themselves
suddenly to the surface of the water 10 breathe,
which they are continually compelled to do
Porpolses are very numerous IN our waters,
especially in the Chesapeake. They live chief
Iy on small fish and eels, and will pursue
them with such violence as often to throw /
themselves so far on shoal as to be unable /
to get of. The porpoise of our ater is of the |
same color of the one we have described, the |
white kind being confined to the st Lawrence /
and still more northern waters. A porpoise |
yields large quantity Of the most costly oil, |
and we often wonder they are not captured in |
this vicinity for that purpose, as they are 30 |
abundant We have been told single one |
will yield hogahead of oil, but Of this we |
have our doubts. !
The poIpoise is inOffenslve, never attacking
bathers; but strange as it may appear, if one
of their number is wounded and begins to
bleed, its companions will fall upon and de-
your IT. They generally so in troops of from
SIX TO five times that number In the nost
tempestuous weather they can surmount the
waves and pursue their course Seamen have
a superstitiOus detestation of them, because
they believe their appearance to be ominous
of approaching storms