t
of my life. And as the Dolphin family is very long lived, I hope that
many years of sweet, delicious freedom, and enjoyment of my native
element, are yet before me.

And if there was a great king of the Dolphins, as there must be a great
Friend of the Folks, that guides our affairs, I would send him a letter
a yard long, full of thanks for my freedom. It may be there is such a
king, but real knowledge of such things is way beyond me.

I saw strange craft as I boomed along, always giving them a wide berth.
And such fishes! Did you ever see an angel-fish? Don't ever wish to if
you haven't. It ought to be called evil spirit fish. In appearance it is
one of the quaintest, ugliest creatures that swims the sea. Some Folks
call it monk-fish. It is all of four feet long, has fierce, goggly eyes,
and a round, wicked-looking head, that seems nearly separated from the
rest of its thick body by a thin, short neck. Then such a
vicious-looking tail! Oh, you had better keep clear of an angel-fish.

A toad-fish looked like an enormous, swimming toad. Bless me! I caught
sight of a shark as I came well out into the ocean. He was more than
twenty feet long. Think of that! But they are thirty feet sometimes. His
great, fleshy, powerful tail takes him along as he looks from side to
side for his prey. I saw his pointed nose and his rows of awful teeth,
one over another.

There are sharks that can bite a man in halves. Once in awhile we see a
shark in our Mediterranean, but they do not abound there. Yet now and
then Mister Diver-man has had to rush for his life to reach the friendly
ladder when the disturbance under water to right and left has warned him
that one of these sea-monsters was approaching. Oh, they are dreadful
creatures, and greedy, too. They will follow vessels for miles and
miles, expecting that cast-off food will be thrown into the sea, as it
often is. Their instinct tells them that food is likely to drop from
vessels, and it does, indeed.

I also saw a sea-snipe, or trumpet-fish, but, oho, without a tooth! He
made me think of a scorpion that has a poisonous, dangerous tail.

I came upon a funny sight while still in the Atlantic Ocean. A whole
school of whales went rushing along in a body, and pretty soon I saw
what it meant. Then it was more funny for me than for the poor whales.
Some whalers, men who go out in vessels to catch these enormous fishes
for their flesh, their oil, and their bones, were banging great heavy