72 SPERM WHALES. 



a single circumstance to note it; I well remember 

 the mate's answer to one of the crew, who in reply 

 to his order to get up the spun yarn machine, laugh- 

 ingly said that it was Fourth of July. The curt 

 answer was, " Yes ! it is Fourth of July at home, 

 but not here." In the evening, after the quarter 

 watch was set, the accordeon, drum, fife, tamborine, 

 fiddle, and triangle, were pressed into service, and 

 all the national airs performed thereon with great glee. 

 The JSTew Year found us on the coast of New Hol- 

 land in sight of Cape Leuwin. This portion of 

 Australia presents rather an indifferent appearance, 

 viewed from the ocean ; it being barren, apparently, 

 over a great part of its extent, and where vegetation 

 does appear, it is low and scanty. Off' this cape is a 

 great resort for sperm whales, and at almost all 

 seasons of the year American whalers are to be seen, 

 standing ofi^ and on, patiently awaiting the appear- 

 ance of the cachalot. At the time that we reached 

 this ground, the ships were just resorting here 

 from the coast of Africa and Island of Madagascar, 

 we spoke and gammoned a number, varying from 

 eight to thirty months from home, and having from 

 one hundred to two thousand barrels of oil aboard. 

 On the fifth, a gale of wind having but just abated, 

 leaving a heavy swell on the surface of the ocean, 

 we saw sperm whales. We lowered for them at 7^ 

 o'clock A. M. ; at 8 the starboard boat fastened to a 

 laro-e one, and a moment afterward we followed with 

 the waist boat. The larboard boat, in trying to imi- 

 tate us, was struck by the whale's flukes and stove. 

 She filled, and her crew were obliged to swim for their 

 lives to the bow boat, in which they were conveyed 



