4 1 4 Notes on Sport and Travel v 



As far as I can make out by the aid of my own 

 limited lights, this particular affair between the 

 thresher and the whale resolves itself, on examina- 

 tion, into a mere bit of an exceedingly ' domestic 

 drama,' though I do not deny that there are more 

 scenes in it than the one I have just tried to describe 

 to you. In this particular, and, as far as my observa- 

 tion goes, most frequently represented one, Madame 

 Ceta, half reclining on one side, holds Miss or Master 

 Ceta, as the case may be, cuddled close to her head 

 by one dainty silver flipper, while with the other she 

 applauds that dear old dunderhead Papa (she has 

 been married before and knows how to manage him), 

 who fancies that he is displaying his grace and 

 agility to the admiration of his wife and the delight 

 of her child by standing on his head, and making 

 a fool of himself generally with his tail, while she 

 murmurs to dear little Ceta (who already knows a 

 thing or two), ' Yes, darling, it is very absurd, but we 

 had better keep him in good humour, so I'll flop 

 again.' I have seen this act of the drama played in 

 ocean play-houses very distant from each other. 

 One was off the Cape de Verd (a paradise for a 

 spring yacht-cruise for the man who understands 

 what he is about), when the principal part was taken 

 by Madame Megaptera, the long-winged whale, she 

 of the silver sabre, and again by the smaller right 

 whale, a cousin of Megaptera (^Megaptera australis ?), 

 off that strange trio of rocks away in the open sea 

 which we include in the name of Norfolk Island. 



