36 A BOOK OF WHALES 



level of the sea is very different from that which it 

 has when seen from the deck of a ship ; it appears so 

 much higher, and shoots up into the air like a fountain 

 discharged from a very fine rose. The whale, of 

 course, in reality does not discharge water, but only 

 its breath ; this, however, in rushing up into the air 

 hot from the animal's body, has its moisture con- 

 densed to form a sort of rain, and the colder the air, 

 just as in the case of our own breath, the more 

 marked the result. When the spout is made with 

 the blow hole clear above the surface of the water, 

 it appears like a sudden jet of steam from a boiler. 

 When effected, as it sometimes is, before the blow 

 hole reaches the surface, a low fountain as from a 

 street fireplug is formed, and when the hole is close 

 to the surface at the moment a little water is sent up 

 with the tall jet of steam. The cloud blown up does 

 not disappear at once, but hangs a little while, and is 

 often seen to drift a short distance with the wind. 

 The expiratory sound is very loud when heard close 

 by, and is a sort of deep bass snort, extremely loud 

 and somewhat prolonged ; it might even be compared 

 to the sound produced by the rushing of steam at high 

 pressure from a large pipe." 



