Note 2 — PETER KALM’s TRAVELS.

Of Cetaceous fish we met with Porpesses, or as some sailors call them Sea-hogs2 (Delphinus Phocæna, Linn.) first in the channel and then they continued every where on this side the Azores, where they are the only fish navigators meet with; but beyond these isles they are seldom seen, till again in the neighbourhood of America we saw them equally frequent to the very mouth of Delaware river. They always appeared in shoals, some of which consisted of upwards of an hundred individuals; their swimming was very swift, and though they often swam along side of our ship, being taken as it were with the noise caused by the ship cutting the waves, they however soon outwent her, when they were tired with staring at her. They are from four to eight feet long, have a bill like in shape to that of a goose, a white belly, and leap up into the air frequently four feet high, and from four to eight feet in length; though their snoring indicates the effort which a leap of that nature costs them. Our sailors made many vain attempts to strike one of them with the harp iron from the forecastle, when they came within reach, but their velocity always eluded their skill.