226 THE OCEAN. 



the leviathan of the deep five thousand miles farther, 

 in the distant seas of Cliina and Japan. Now they 

 are braving the horrors of the Antarctic sea, thread- 

 ing an intricate and perilous course through fields 

 and bergs of floating ice, " under the frozen serpent 

 of the south ; " anon they are upon the equator, 

 toiling with undaunted spirit beneath the rays of a 

 vertical sun. The bleak and barren rocks of the 

 Horn, tenanted by Penguins, are forsaken for the 

 sunny isles of Polynesia, and these, again, for the in- 

 hospitable shores of Kamschatka. Peculiar dangers 

 attend them in their protracted voyage ; if they 

 escape unscathed from the storms of the south, it is 

 to enter an ocean strewn with innumerable reefs of 

 stony coral, whose positions are but imperfectly indi- 

 cated in charts, to touch one of which would be 

 inevitable destruction ; if these are safely passed, it 

 is to penetrate into a sea vexed with the most terrible 

 of tempests, the typhoon. The duration of the voyage 

 is protracted to a length which would justify our 

 calling it an exile ; this is no summer's trip ; three 

 and even four years are the ordinary periods allotted 

 to this enterprise. The object of the pursuit, gigantic 

 in size and power, seems to demand no ordinary 

 courage in its assailant ; and more especially in his 

 own element, when he is "making the sea to boil 

 like a pot of ointment," to venture to the battle in 

 a frail boat, needs a hardihood of more than common 

 calibre. The moment of victory is frequently the 

 moment of danger ; the dying struggles of the lanced 

 WTiale are of fearful impetuosity ; the huge and 

 muscular tail lashes the Ocean into foam, and the 



