HUNTING THE SEA OTTER. 121 



that the peril of our situation would be realised. Some- 

 times a wave more mountainous than the rest broke 

 seaward of us in a mass of foam, barely giving time to 

 seek the friendly shelter of a kelp bed, or avoid inevitable 

 destruction by a rapid move. At other times there was no 

 kelp, nor could the swallows' rapid flight have cleared in 

 time the extremity of the foamy wall which stretched its 

 snow-white line across the horizon. At such a time there 

 was a period of uncertainty, when the keenest observation 

 was necessary. Balanced upon one of the thwarts, the 

 hunter, with set lips and eager eye, would scan the 

 approaching line, to mark the dark breaks where safety 

 lies, and where the proud wave, exhausted in its strength, 

 fell with its tall crest into the more level expanse to rise 

 no more. 



Under such circumstances, it will be readily understood 

 that, presuming the ability, which I am far from claiming, 

 to describe with any pretence to scientific accuracy the 

 different species of cetacea encountered in our cruise 

 would be impossible. I give, therefore, only for what they 

 are worth, such extracts from notes taken on the spot and 

 having reference to such characteristics of these animals 

 as may tend to identification, and which at the time 

 impressed themselves on the mind with sufficient clearness 

 as to be distinctive without my being able to give such 

 detail as would lead to classification. Moreover, the difficulty 

 is enhanced by the difference in nomenclature adopted by 

 naturalists, no two seeming to agree. Unfortunately, this 

 love of change is not confined to naturalists. Poor old 

 Cicero has become Kikero ; and even that holiest of holies, 

 the Latin grammar, has been invaded; while even the 

 pronunciation of technical terms finds different exponents 

 in the same classroom. 



I shall, therefore, spare the reader as many technical 

 terms as possible, considering that no two treatises as a rule 

 are in agreement upon this point. 



The principal whales seen around the coast were the 



