THE OCEAN SHORE 



Now and again one sees a whale off the north-eastern coast of 

 Brazil, and near Cabedello, the harbour of Parahyba, a whaling 

 station has actually been established; so that this much persecuted 

 animal, which is slowly nearing extinction, will presently be lost to 

 Brazil. The lesser relatives of the giant mammal (for the whales, of 

 course, are not fish, but warm-blooded animals which breathe with 

 lungs and suckle their young), the dolphins, are familiar to everyone 

 who has crossed the ferry from Rio to Nictheroy. The waters of the 

 beautiful bay wake to sudden life when the pointed fins and black 

 backs of the dolphins emerge, describing a graceful curve, tilting 

 over, and disappearing. The dolphin at home in the harbour is the 

 tide-water dolphin or Boto. 



While the eye is still following their glistening black bodies a 

 sudden splash is heard, and something falls into the water like 

 a stone. It is a gannet, a large bird with a long straight beak, which 

 dives from a height in order to seize its prey. Its colleague, the 

 handsome frigate-bird, is usually seen hovering high in the air. 

 I had already admired these birds in Bahia. The forked tail produces 

 the illusion of two long legs outstretched behind the bird, so that at 

 first sight I thought it must be a stork or crane. 



When, sailing from Santos, I approached the vast estuary of 

 La Plata, I experienced a treat which I had not looked for on this 

 voyage. Though the month was July, the air was cold as winter, 

 and I paced the deck shivering, wrapped in my warmest cloak. 

 Then, suddenly, my attention was attracted by a sharp muzzle 

 which lifted itself from the water, followed by a narrow head ; and 

 then two great round eyes were staring at the ship. Other heads 

 appeared; they were the heads of sea-lions, Antarctic animals. 

 We saw them for a time constantly; there were young cubs among 

 them, which rushed through the water like fish, hastening away in 

 terror, with outstretched flippers and hunched backs, from the 

 great steamer. Near the Isla de Lobo (Sea-Lion Island), which 

 rises from the sea not far from Montevideo, there were so many 

 sea-lions sitting on a reef that their lifted heads gave it a serrated 

 appearance, and at night their expressive roaring sounded over the 

 water. There were penguins too swimming in the sea, birds of the 

 Antarctic Ocean, whose wings have turned into scaly flippers. 

 The black and white bodies lay horizontal on the water. The third 

 inhabitant of the southern hemisphere which I encountered was the 

 albatross. Without a movement of their wings, the albatrosses 

 floated lightly to and fro behind the ship, their brown pinions 



D 49 



