The sword-fish may attain a length of from twelve to sixteen feet, and is then a most formidable monster, to be feared by almost every inhabitant of the ocean, from the whale downwards. But a still more terrible, because a more cruel monster, is the saw-fish, a creature that grows to an even larger size, and carries, as his name implies, a saw, instead of a sword, in front of him. This terrific implement may be as much as two yards in length—just double the length of the other. It is flat and broad, narrowing slowly towards the point; and all the way down, upon each side, it is set with sharp quadrangular teeth, each one being firmly fixed in a socket. The creature’s real teeth are small and weak, so that it is difficult for him to eat hard, firm flesh. He prefers intestines, which are softer, and by means of his saw he is able to procure them. This he does by sinking beneath some unfortunate porpoise or dolphin—perhaps even a shark or a whale—and striking violent lateral blows at its belly; not spearing it with the keen, clean thrust of the sword-fish, but ripping it from side to side. In this way it tears out the entrails of its victim, and then greedily devours them as they float in the water. A more horrible thing can hardly be imagined. There is only this to be said, that the creatures thus cruelly used are as cruel themselves in pursuing and devouring their own prey—or, at least, they are as cruel as they can be. Whether that is a very consolatory reflection I really don’t know, but I can think of no better one. In the sea, even more than upon land, every creature lives by killing and eating other creatures. There are no gentle scenes, or, at least, not many; it is all a carnage. The most peaceable and innocent creatures—the ones that we can think about with most pleasure—are the great toothless whales, for these, though so gigantic, have a gullet too small for a fish of any size to pass down it, and live, for the most part, on infusoria, which are creatures so minute, and so low in the scale of life, that they may almost be looked upon as belonging to the vegetable kingdom.