WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 131 



like North Devon, covered with shrubs and cliffs, on which 

 the sea sends up white shoots of foam. 



As the sun rises the horizon becomes quickly blue 

 southern blue r but towards the land the clouds still keep the 

 light subdued over sea, hills, glens, and peaks. The sea has 

 awakened but the land seems still to sleep. Dolphins come 

 from seaward and welcome us, and alas, one poor fellow goes 

 away blazed with a harpoon mark ; he was very nearly be- 

 coming food for the poor human creatures on board St Ebba, 

 but the harpoon drew ! 



This island, St Michael or San Miguel, is undoubtedly like 

 Madeira, without quite such extremely rugged peaks. 



We plan staying one day in port to overhaul the engine, 

 and there to get a large-sized chart and local information 

 about whales, then to patrol round the islands for a week, 

 and, if whales are here, perhaps longer. If not, we go to 

 Madeira, thence southwards with the advancing season. 



How exquisite is the colouring of the white and pink houses 

 against the green and violet of the hills. Now the sun is in 

 full blaze and the sea intensely blue. We drop sail and fly a 

 little white flag, with blue square in centre for a pilot, and 

 swing in from the south to Ponta Delgada, and with the glass 

 make out a pilot's flag and a six-oared grey pilot boat coming 

 towards us over the little blue waves. The light grey long- 

 boat swings alongside ; the crew are in pale blue uniforms, 

 with dark blue berries, their faces brown or sallow, eyes, 

 hair, and moustaches black as coal. 



We got a slight shake after the pilot came aboard, we 

 had stopped our engine for him to come alongside, and in 

 trying to start again found it would not work. However, 

 fifteen minutes of the little steam-engine we rigged up in 

 Belfast brought up enough air pressure to start them. In 

 the seven days' run from Belfast some fouling must have 

 collected somewhere, possibly in the cylinders. The interval 

 I put in usefully, talking to the pilot by means of some half-a- 

 dozen words of Spanish and Portuguese and a good many 

 English, plus sketch-book and pencil. With the last I find, 

 after years of practice, a great deal can be expressed half-a- 

 dozen strokes gave an idea of the lie of the islands, and a dot 



