148 RORQUAL OP THE SOUTHERN SEAS. 



does any one think of pursuing it, since its great 

 power and velocity make it difficult and dangerous 

 of capture, and the product by no means repays the 

 risk and labour. 



It is manifestly this species which Dr. Foster 

 states that he encountered near Terra del Fuego, 

 when leturning to England with the illustrious 

 Cook'. As illustrative of its habits we shall give an 

 extract : " When between Terra del Fuego and 

 Statten Island, Lieutenant Pickersgill was sent into 

 Success Bay, and on this occasion it was remarked 

 that no less than thirty large whales played about 

 them in the water. Whenever they were seen 

 blowing to windward, the whole ship was infected 

 with a most destestable rank and poisonous stench, 

 which went off in the space of two or three minutes. 

 Sometimes these huge animals lay on their backs, 

 and with their long pectoral fins beat the surface of 

 the sea, which always caused a great noise, equal to 

 the explosion of a swivel. This kind of play has 

 doubtless given rise to the mariners' story of a fight 

 between the thresher and the whale ; the former of 

 which is said to leap out of the water in order to 

 fall heavily upon the latter. Here we had an op- 

 portunity of observing the same exercise many times 

 repeated, and discovered that all the belly and under 

 side of the fins and tail are of a white colour, 

 whereas the rest is black. As we happened to be 

 only sixty yards from one of these animals, we 

 perceived a number of longitudinal furrows on its 

 belly. Besides flapping with their fins in the water 



