1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



ro9 



AUNT KATIE TELLS US A WHALE 

 STOKY. 



ALSO SOMETHING ADOUT CAI.IFOKNIA ACIJOSS THE ! 

 COUXTRV. 



"jr. BOUT five weeks ag-o we saw au accouut in a 

 **I^ P^P®"" o* ''^^o whales being seen ott Port Har- 

 jR|'' ford, sixty miles away, and some one shoot- 

 •^^ ing- at them with Heni-y rifles, and securing- 

 one"of the whales. About a week ago we 

 read in our local paper that a dead whale had 

 stranded on the beach near Point Sal, twenty miles 

 from here, and that it had lour bullet-holes In it. 

 Being so near, we concluded to pay it a visit. So 

 we loaded up our wagon with tent, bedding, and 

 provisions, and plenty of wraps (for the ocean 

 breezes at the beach are quite chilly). 'After pick- 

 ing up a friend from Missouri, who had never seen 

 a whale, we all joyfully rode along. We made a 

 camp-fire beside a wayside spi-ing. at noon, and 

 made a cuj) of tea, and ate our lunch. 'I'licii we ar- 

 rived at the beach about 4 p. m. 



That the whale? Why, it looks like a monstrous 

 black rock; and, seel it has a white tail. We soon 

 got near enough to see that the fail had been 

 "peeled," as the boys called it; that is, the fat, 

 which was from two to si.x inches thick, had been 

 cut off. The whale had stranded on its back, and 

 the sea was dashing against it, so we were unable 

 to sec the head, the part we wished most to sec; but 

 we were told that the tide would be out in the morn- 

 ing, so after looking at the huge monster fill we 

 were tired, and feeling almost fear at the tremen- 

 dous breakers as they dashed upon the beaeli, we 

 retired back from the shore and pitched our tent 

 among the sand dunes which extend along the 

 beach at this place. Hy keeping to windward we 

 escaped all scent, which is slight, considering the 

 size of the object, and the time it had been strand- 

 ed. We then got our supper. As we were sitting 

 by the camp-fire alter supper, one young gentleman 

 who was among the hands trying out the fat, came 

 up and invited the male members of our party to a 

 coon-hunt; but being pretty tired, they dcclhied. 

 The next morning the boys told us they got four 

 coons, and that as soon as a coon found himself 

 chased he would make for the water; that one 

 coon had caught hold of the dog's car and had fried 

 to hold his head under water, and that George had 

 run out into the surf and helped get the coon, and 

 that he got wet through. He got tlie coon, though, 

 find that paid hin; lor the wetting. 



The tide had been dt)wn and up, and >vas now go- 

 ing down again; and as soon as it got low enough 

 they were going to cut off the head of the whale .so 

 that they could turn over the body in order to get 

 the rest of the outside fat, of which they had secur- 

 ed only about a fourth. They had .500 gallons of oil 

 i-endered out. We waited until 10 A.M., but the tide 

 had not gone down enough to get at the head with- 

 out getting wet by the breakers, so w(." did not see 

 anymore of the whale than we had seen the me- 

 ning before; but we ran all around it between the 

 waves, and some of our company went on top of 11. 

 Tlirce men and a boy didn't oecui)y much space on 

 that mountain of flesh. When first found it was 

 • luite out of the sand, and it was measured. It was 

 7'.J feet long, and b") feet high. Every time the tide 

 came up, the body settled into the sand, and it had 

 flattened out till It looked like a black lloor, big 



enough, almost, for a skating-rink. The flukes at 

 the end of the tail are put on opposite to what a fish- 

 tail is, and each section which lay spread out upon 

 the sand was about five feet by two, and about five 

 inches thick. When tliey are angry they bring the 

 tail flat upon the water, with force enough to smash 

 a good-sized boat. 



As we could not stay any longer we packed up and 

 started back home. We showed our friend where 

 the men used to" haul the wheat raised in the Los 

 Alamos and Santa Maria Valleys, to be shipped by 

 steamer to San Francisco, until the railroad was 

 built; and as we had come to the beach by one road, 

 we thought of returning by the other road the men 

 often took on their return, i-ather than meet the 

 six-horse teams and the attendant dust. We had 

 loitered about Point Sal until we found we couldn't 

 get quite home that night, so we went on until we 

 came to the Los Alamos Creek, expecting to find 

 water as in olden times, but found it dry. So we 

 followed it up until stopped by a fence. We then 

 camped among some willows, and fortunately found 

 water, borrowing some potatoes from a field near 

 by, and there we found out why the creek was dry. 

 It had been used to irrigate with. We got supper. 

 We had been out longer than we had intended, so 

 our provision - box was about empty, hence the po- 

 tatoes. In the morning we found a gate, and pass- 

 I ed through info a field, and soon found a road. 11 

 had been partly made, and was over quite a large 

 hill. The men had to hang on to the side of the wag- 

 on with all their might, to keep the wagon from tip- 

 i ping over. You may be sure that I and the "little 

 I ones" did not ride until safely at the top. We had 

 some sport laughing at the notices to trespassers, 

 I warning them not to cut timber on the place. A^ 

 ' nothing was to be seen but brush for miles, wc won- 

 dered where the timlier was. After going along the 

 road about throe miles, and finding that we were go- 

 ing away from home, we felt uneasy; but as unbrt)- 

 ken fences barred the way, we had to keep on or go 

 back ten miles. We soon espied a man in a buggy, 

 coming toward us. He proved to be au acquaint- 

 ance, and the overseer of the ranch where we got 

 j the potatoes. So we told him we had added a "T" 

 [ to each word of the name of our valley, to describe 

 our condition, making it Los-f Alamos-t, and we 

 ' mentioned the potatoes. He told us the road home, 

 and said that was the right thing to do when one 

 was hungry; viz., help yourself from a friend's gar- 

 den, and that we ought to have driven up to the 

 hay-stack near the field, and fed our horses. There 

 is California hospitality for you. 



Wliile digging the potatoes our Missouri friend 



objected; but we told him that as we gave so often 



of our abundance to campers and tramps, when we 



were in a strait we only paid ourselves, always in 



moderation, of course. Our friend treated us to 



some of the fruit of the prickly pear, which he had 



in his buggy. The natives and Mexicans like them 



very much. It tasted to us like a soi-t of mixture of 



cucumber and nujsk - melon, ijuite eatable when 



nothing better can be got. We traveled three 



hours tvom the nights camping-place before we 



reached a road that led us home. We had camped 



! ten miles from home, and at 10 A. .M. were still fen 



j miles from home. We were wishing that Bridget 



1 had some nice coflee made when we got home. 



"Who is Bridget/" says the baby. We had to ac- 

 j knowledge that we were Bridget, so the cofTee was 

 I not ready, of course; but we soon had some when 



