WHAT HAS BECOME OF THE WHALE'S LEGS 



ship, though our white paint was badly stained by the im- 

 purity of his breath. 



We long since ceased our efforts to annoy him, and had 

 become attached to him as to a dog. We had named him 

 "Blowhard," and even fancied, as we called him, that he 



The skull of an eighty-foot blue whale, the skeleton of which 

 was sent to the American Museum of Natural History from 

 Japan. When crated for shipment the skull had a space 

 measurement of twenty-one tons. 



came closer under our quarter, when I felt like patting his 

 glabrous sides, and saying: "Good old fellow." 



As the water grew shoaler he left us, with regret un- 

 feigned on our part, and apparently so on his. This story of 

 the whale is so remarkable, that were there not so many 

 witnesses, I would not venture to tell it, lest I be accused 

 of exaggeration. There were a number of experienced 

 whalemen among our passengers, who said the animal was a 

 "Sulphurbottom." x 



1 (/. c., p. 71, note.) 



157 



