PORPOISES AND GULLS. 23 



which was gladly taken advantage of for drying 

 the clothes and hammocks, the wind again blew 

 hard from the S. W., and for some days ren- 

 dered any advance impossible. On the 18th, 

 the gale abated, and the wind getting more to 

 the south, enabled us to lay on our course. On 

 several occasions before this, in the intervals of 

 good weather, I had observed porpoises in great 

 numbers gamboling about the vessel ; and at 

 this time in particular, we were visited by a large 

 shoal, whose sportive tricks and ludicrous atti- 

 tudes relieved the monotony of the scene, and 

 afforded us much amusement. When they left 

 us, a flock of gulls succeeded, and approached 

 with so much boldness as to catch the bits of 

 tallow thrown to them from the deck. It is 

 needless to say that they came and departed un- 

 molested. On the 20th, a breeze from the S. S. E. 

 sprung up, which, before noon the next day, had 

 increased to a strong gale, and carried us at the 

 unusual rate of six knots an hour to the west- 

 ward of Cape Farewell. This, however, did not 

 last long, for the wind again drew round to the 

 west, and ended in a calm. 



Here some drift-wood was observed, to one of 

 the pieces of which the roots and bark were still 

 attached. It could not, therefore, have been 

 long separated from the land, but from what 

 land it is not easy to determine. The consider- 



c 4 



