THE ANIMALS OF THE ISLANDS 197 



sight of the ship until she sailed into the South Ameri- 

 can port and reached shallow water. When the ship 

 was dr}'-docked her copper was scratched and colored 

 by the whale and his breath, and the creature himself 

 looked like a scarred veteran who had been through 

 the wars. 



"One of the steamers here has killed two whales 

 out and out, and how many she has battered and laid 

 up for repairs no one knows. You see, the channel is 

 full of whales in the spring. They winter down in the 

 Gulf of California and start north with their young 

 in early summer, and find this a great feeding-ground. 

 In May and June the channel is alive with jelly-fishes, 

 great big fellows, nearly a foot across, and streamers 

 from ten to twenty feet long, purple-colored and 

 white. Looking over the side you can see dozens 

 sometimes, and all the big whales have to do is to 

 open their mouths wide and swim ahead half speed, 

 and they just fill up on jelly and schools of small 

 prey. 



"The first whale was killed when the ship was bound 

 from San Francisco. She was outside the heads when 

 up came a big whale to blow, right in front of her. 

 The captain gave the signal to stop and back, not 

 knowing what it might do; but it was too late, she 

 struck the whale amidships and just seemed to rise up 

 on it, and then stopped. The wheel went over, so 

 they say, and almost floored the man that had the 

 spokes. The steamer was n't hurt a bit, but the whale 

 was a wreck. The water was filled with blood, and 

 the whale swam around in a circle beating the water 

 with its tail; then it disappeared, and the steamer 

 went on. A few days later the whale was sighted in 



