A CAPTURED WHALE 219 



treated in the same manner, Yellowstone Kelly said 

 it was beavers' tail fried in cod liver oil, 

 two guessed sea lion, one guessed seal, one 

 said it was some sort of fish a long way 

 out of season and two knowing ones "guessed 

 right the very first time." Personally I must 

 admit that while I can eat blubber fresh from 

 the trying kettle I much prefer bacon. The whale 

 oil is a useful article of trade, but as long as beef 

 and bacon last my advice is do not experiment on 

 whale as an article for the table. 



Amagansett people have be.en known to fry their 



DOUGHNUTS IN THE KETTLES OF WHALE OIL, 



but Amagansett people are sentimental in 

 everything flavoring of the sea, and even 

 the strangers who visit this old Long Island 

 town pay little heed to the historic relics 

 moldering in the twilight of the attics, but 

 like the native born, the stranger's sole interest is 

 in the most ancient of all objects found there, the 

 sea. 



If any reader wishes to distinguish at a glance 

 the warm blooded sea mammals from the great 

 fishes, he can do so with one look at their caudal 

 appendages or in other words at their tails. If 

 the creature inspected is a warm blooded, milk giv- 

 ing air breather which gives birth to its young alive, 

 the tail will be found to be set parallel with its 

 mouth, that is horizontally on the body like this , 

 but if this useful organ is set edgewise, in other 



