CHAPTER VIII
I was once in great danger of being lost in a most singular manner in
the Mediterranean: I was bathing in that pleasant sea near Marseilles
one summer's afternoon, when I discovered a very large fish, with his
jaws quite extended, approaching me with the greatest velocity; there
was no time to be lost, nor could I possibly avoid him. I immediately
reduced myself to as small a size as possible, by closing my feet and
placing my hands also near my sides, in which position I passed
directly between his jaws, and into his stomach, where I remained some
time in total darkness, and comfortably warm, as you may imagine; at
last it occurred to me, that by giving him pain he would be glad to
get rid of me: as I had plenty of room, I played my pranks, such as
tumbling, hop, step, and jump, &c., but nothing seemed to disturb him
so much as the quick motion of my feet in attempting to dance a
hornpipe; soon after I began he put me out by sudden fits and starts:
I persevered; at last he roared horridly, and stood up almost
perpendicularly in the water, with his head and shoulders exposed, by
which he was discovered by the people on board an Italian trader, then
sailing by, who harpooned him in a few minutes. As soon as he was
brought on board I heard the crew consulting how they should cut him
up, so as to preserve the greatest quantity of oil. As I understood
Italian, I was in most dreadful apprehensions lest their weapons
employed in this business should destroy me also; therefore I stood as
near the centre as possible, for there was room enough for a dozen men
in this creature's stomach, and I naturally imagined they would begin
with the extremities; however, my fears were soon dispersed, for they
began by opening the bottom of the belly. As soon as I perceived a
glimmering of light I called out lustily to be released from a
situation in which I was now almost suffocated. It is impossible for
me to do justice to the degree and kind of astonishment which sat upon
every countenance at hearing a human voice issue from a fish, but more
so at seeing a naked man walk upright out of his body; in short,
gentlemen, I told them the whole story, as I have done you, whilst
amazement struck them dumb.
After taking some refreshment, and jumping into the sea to cleanse
myself, I swam to my clothes, which lay where I had left them on the
shore. As near as I can calculate, I was near four hours and a half
confined in the stomach of this animal.
