A COW AND CALF. 187 



shore in the lower part of the bay, he saw a cow 

 and calf, and pursued them. The cow whale 

 could easily have gotten away, but would not 

 leave her little one. She tried every expedient tc 

 quicken its progress, first bearing it on her flukes, 

 then taking the little thing between her fin and 

 body, and when she found this useless, placing it 

 before her to push it along with her nose. 



But all was vain. The mate pulled up, and by 

 way of making sure of the mother, who had just 

 gone down, put an iron into the calf. 



Soon as the mother came up, she was fastened 

 too, and in a few minutes was spouting thick blood. 

 By this time we were upon the spot, ready to ren- 

 der assistance. 



The mother whale seemed solicitous only about 

 her calf. She would fondle it with her huge snout, 

 and push it along before her. She would get 

 between it and the boats, to keep it out of harm's 

 way. She would take it down with her, knowing 

 that on the bottom was the safest place. But here 

 the little one could not obey her. It was forced 

 to come up to breathe at least once every two 

 minutes, and by this means, even had we not been 

 able to tell by the strain of our lines, we knew 

 at all times where away was the old whale. 



Never did mother, of whatever species, display a 

 more absorbing affection for her young than did 

 this whale, and there was scarcely one in the pur- 

 suit, bat felt as though we were taking a dishonora 

 ble advantage of her. 



