202 WHALING AND FISHING. 



It was but a few days before we left the 

 that a singular incident occurred, which, had the 

 succeeding circumstances been only more favora- 

 ble, would have given rise to a veritable and most 

 andeniable ghost-story. Many such, I dare say, 

 rest on a less plausible foundation. 



The humpback is in many regards a fish of very 

 singular habits, differing in great measure from 

 those of any other species of the whale. Among 

 his oddities is one which those of us who daily 

 labored in the boats had soon gotten used to, but 

 of which the ship-keepers knew nothing. A 

 whale would sometimes get under the boat, at 

 such a depth below the surface that the crew were 

 entirely unaware of his presence, and there utter 

 the most doleful groans, interspersed with a gurg- 

 ling sound such as a drowning man may be sup- 

 posed to make. The first time I heard these 

 sounds it was almost incomprehensible to me that 

 they could proceed from a whale. But close 

 watching of their motions convinced us all that 

 they were the true authors. 



So little noteworthy had the matter been thought 

 after its cause was explained, that it was not a 

 topic of conversation on board, and so it came 

 about that our ship-keepers were left in entire 

 ignorance of the imitative powers of the hump 

 back. 



One morning about eleven o'clock, when the 

 buats were all on the daily cruise, and but half 

 R dozen men on board each ship, onr steward 



