Bathes in the Mediterranean¹—Meets an unexpected companion—Arrives unintentionally in the regions of heat and darkness, from which he is extricated² by dancing a hornpipe—Frightens his deliverers, and returns on shore.  
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 jaws³ quite extended, approaching me with the greatest velocity⁴; 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 pranks⁵, such as tumbling, hop⁶, 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 persevered⁷; at last he roared horridly⁸, and stood up almost perpendicularly⁹ 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 harpooned¹⁰ him in a few minutes. As soon as he was brought on board I heard the ............