150 WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 



rose to blow immediately under our counter, and anyone 

 standing at our wheel could have jumped on its back. 



I did not see the end of the chase. I expect the whales 

 were making a flight into tightly packed ice, under which 

 they could possibly go to greater distance than the killers 

 without breathing at least that is our explanation of their 

 manoeuvre. 



These, of course, were finner whales, we were hunting for 

 Right whales, the difference between the two in shape, etc., 

 I have referred to at the beginning of this book. 



Delgada again. Here are some oddments in this chapter. 

 I notice I put down in my log that I suffer from sore feet 

 sunburned insteps and see Portuguese doctor, you go bare- 

 footed on such boats as ours in sub-tropics, and this was 

 the result. 



I met the captain of our wreck, the B enido, a Welsh- 



man, in a tight place, and almost as silent on shore as on his 

 ship, but I felt sorry for him. 



The engines were thoroughly overhauled, and favourable 

 was the verdict of the engineers on them which was satis- 

 factory for all hands ; the first engineer, a Swede, would like 

 to take three hundred shares in our Company if he could 

 get them. He is so confident about our engine, possibly he 

 may more correctly be described as sanguine. 



We entertained British Consul Rumble to dinner, a return 

 compliment for several courtesies from him, to-night at 

 eight P.M., and he is just departing ; my feet are very sore. 

 We caught about fifteen good fish in the trammel-net, and a 



