6o The Rorquals 



but in the Rorquals this advantage disappears almost 

 entirely. For, except in certain places and under 

 certain conditions, such as obtained on the coasts of 

 Newfoundland, Labrador, and Norway, the Rorqual 

 is not, cannot be, hunted successfully. And so there 

 are proportionately less opportunities for observing 

 these clippers of the whale tribe, which are to be found 

 in some of their varieties in every sea beneath the sky. 

 Nevertheless, owing to the fact that instinct has taught 

 the Rorqual that he has nothing to fear from ships, 

 it is possible occasionally for a patient observer on 

 board a sailing ship to have a fairly long opportunity 

 of noting the behaviour of Rorquals. 



One thing is exceedingly noticeable about them, 

 their solitary proclivities. During my wanderings 

 over all the seas, I have never seen more than two 

 Rorquals together, and that on only three occasions. 

 Nearly always it is one that comes from out of the 

 great void, and, as if feeling his loneliness, makes friends 

 with the becalmed ship and remains constantly atten- 

 dant upon her, until an upspringing breeze hurries her 

 away. I well remember the awe and fascination that 

 one of these monsters bred in me during my first East 

 Indian voyage. It was in the Indian Ocean, near the 

 Equator, and on one lovely but moonless night I was 

 lolling over the rail during a stark calm, gazing into 

 the inscrutable depths below, where occasional flashes 

 of green light made the surrounding darkness more 

 impressive. Dimly I wondered what those lights were, 

 and why they shone, when presently I became aware 

 of a great glare far down, which was slowly brightening 

 as it neared the surface. As it rose higher and higher 

 I saw that the centre of this brilliancy was a long black 

 oval growing larger and larger. And presently, 

 paralysing me with fright, the rising mass broke the 



