The mate, cool and collected, took a careful aim, and again threw
the iron, which entered his victim, and then shouted with the voice of a
Stentor, "Haul in! Haul in!" And we did haul in; but the fish was strong
and muscular, and struggled hard for liberty and life. In spite of our
prompt and vigorous exertions, he was dragged under the brig's bottom;
and if he had not been struck in a workmanlike manner, the harpoon
would have drawn out, and the porpoise would have escaped, to be torn
to pieces by his unsympathizing companions. As it was, after a severe
struggle on both sides, we roused him out of the water, when the mate
called for the jib down-haul, with which he made a running bowline,
which was clapped over his tail and drawn tight; and in this inglorious
manner he was hauled in on the deck.

The porpoise is a fish five or six feet in length, weighing from one
hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds. The name is derived from the
Italian word PORCO-PERCE, or hog-fish; and indeed this animal resembles
a hog in many respects. It has a long head, terminated by a projection
of its jaws, which are well filled with sharp teeth, white as polished
ivory. The body is covered with a coat of fat, or blubber, from one to
three inches in thickness, which yields abundance of excellent oil;
and the flesh beneath is not very unlike that of a hog, but more oily,
coarser, and of a darker color. The flesh, excepting the harslet, is
not much prized, though some sailors are fond of it, and rejoice at the
capture of a porpoise, which gives them an agreeable change of diet.

A few days after this event, being to the southward of Bermuda, I
climbed to the fore-top-gallant yard, and casting my eyes around, saw
on the verge of the horizon a white speck, which made a singular
appearance, contrasting, as it did, with the dark hue of the ocean and
the clear azure of a cloudless sky, I called to a sailor who was at work
in the cross-trees, and pointed it out to him. As soon as he saw it he
exclaimed, "Sail, ho!"

The captain was on the quarter-deck, and responded to the announcement
by the inquiry of "Where away?"

"About three points on the larboard bow," was the rejoinder.

We had not spoken a vessel since we left Portsmouth. Indeed, we had seen
none, excepting a few fishing smacks on St. George's Bank. The sight of
a vessel on the broad ocean ordinarily produces considerable excitement;
and this excitement is of a pleasing character wh