164 SKETCHES OF A RESIDENCE 



looking for hours into the clear depths of the ocean. I usually paddled 

 my canoe outside the reef, where the water is from fourteen to sixteen 

 fathoms deep. Even at this great depth I could see almost to the bot- 

 tom, so perfectly clear and pellucid was the water. The bottom is here 

 covered with immense groves oi arborescent coral, many of the branches 

 of which rise to within a few fathoms of the surface; and between 

 these branches the magnificent fishes of the tropics were seen sporting 

 in countless numbers, like brilliant birds through the most gorgeously 

 painted foliage. Several times, while on these interesting marine excur- 

 sions, I had the pleasure of seeing large shoals of flying fish rise at 

 some distance and plunge into the sea near my boat, looking like pieces 

 of polished silver as the rays of the sun fell upon them. On one of 

 these occasions, a Dolphin had been in pursuit of them, and the magni- 

 ficent depredator leapt so near me, that I could have touched him with 

 my paddle. 



A circumstance occurred a few days before I left this island, which 

 was a novelty to me, and 1 am induced to suppose may possess interest 

 for the readers of the Journal, 



Strolling along the beach one fine morning, I overtook the Captain 

 of a whaling vessel lying in the port, who stopped me in passing, to 

 point out a whaler which had just cleared the harbor, remarking, in a 

 professional lone — "She has backed her foretopsail. Sir." "Well," 

 said I, "suppose she has, and what then?" "Why, "he answered, 

 "don't you know that means she has a whale?" This information 

 immediately put me on the qui vive. I asked him if he would go out 

 with me to see the fun. He replied that he would gladly go, if we 

 could procure a boat. Recollecting that I had seen a whale-boat ashore 

 a few hundred yards down the beach, I requested him to wait a few mo- 

 ments, and ran hastily to the boat, which I secured; and by an offer of a 

 few rials to some native men whom I found in a village near, furnished 

 myself in a trice with six good oarsmen. We pulled back to where I 

 had left the Captain, took him on board, and in a few minutes were 

 clear of the harbor, and in full run for the whaler. Our men gave way 

 handsomely, and in a very short time we found ourselves among the 

 boats which had left the ship in pursuit of the monster. We were too 

 late however to see the first harpoon thrown. One boat had already 

 fastened to the whale, and it was seen clearing the vyater at a fearful 

 rate. Towards this boat we pulled, and before we reached it, up surged 

 the huge fish to blow. A column of what seemed thick blood was pro- 

 jected from its snout to the height of perhaps fifteen feet, and the sea all 

 around was red with blood. In a inoiucnt, a second boat shot by us, 



