CHAP. 10.—OTHER WONDERFUL THINGS RELATING TO DOLPHINS.
The account which Mucianus gives of a similar mode of fishing in the Iasian Gulf differs from the preceding one, in the fact that there the dolphins make their appearance of their own accord, and do not require to be called: they receive their share from the hands of the people, each boat having its own particular associate among the dolphins; and this, although the fishing is carried on at night-time by the light2284 of torches.
Dolphins, also, form among themselves2285 a sort of general community. One of them having been captured by a king of Caria and chained up in the harbour, great multitudes of dolphins assembled at the spot, and with signs of sorrow which could not be misunderstood, appealed to the sympathies of the people, until at last the king ordered it to be released. The young dolphins, also, are always attended2286 by a larger one, who acts as a guardian to them; and before now, they have been seen2287 carrying off the body of one which had died, that it might not be devoured by the sea-monsters.