THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 255 



of them appearing to be actually lifted quite on the 

 surface of the water, from the great power of the 

 rowers ; and we had the satisfaction of observing, 

 that our boats were quite equal to the others in 

 the speed with which they were propelled. But it 

 was again a useless task, as the Whale had outwitted 

 those in the boats, by having gone, while under 

 water, much further than any of his pursuers had 

 anticipated, and they again had the mortification of 

 witnessing the turning of his flukes, as he once more 

 descended into the depths of his vast domain. We 

 now knew to a minute the time that he would remain 

 below, while the people in the boats continued to 

 row slowly onwards the whole time. A fine breeze 

 now sprang up, so that we were enabled to keep 

 company with the boats, keeping a little to wind- 

 ward of them, as the Whale was going 'on a wind,' 

 as a seaman would say, meaning that it was blowing 

 across him. 



" When the hour and ten minutes had again nearly 

 past, the nine boats were nearly abreast of each 

 other, and not much separated, so that the success 

 of first striking the Whale depended very much 

 upon the swiftest boat, especially if the Whale came 

 up ahead. We had now all the boats on our lee- 

 beam, while the ships were all astern of us, the most 

 distant not being more than half a mile, so that we 

 enjoyed an excellent view of this most exciting and 

 animated scene. True to his time, the leviathan 

 at length arose right ahead of the boats, and at 

 not more than a quarter of a mile distant from them. 

 The excitement amoiM the crews of the various 



