358 THE WHALE AND ITS CRIES. 



also fast to the fish ; and no loose boat being near us, 

 and the temperature of the water only a few degrees 

 above freezing-point, I don't think that I for one would 

 have kept up long, accoutred as I was in a heavy monkey- 

 jacket and sea-boots. However, on rising to the surface 

 I had the satisfaction of seeing the dingy a couple of 

 boat-lengths off, and the doctor (who had taken to the 

 water, imagining that the tail was coming right down 

 upon us) and myself were soon hauled in, none the worse 

 for our ducking. If the boat had been one foot nearer 

 the fish it would most assuredly have been dashed to 

 pieces, and we should all have been killed before having 

 time to jump overboard." 



It is said of the whale that he sometimes places his 

 huge body in a perpendicular position, with his head 

 downwards ; then, rearing his tail aloft, he beats the 

 water with inconceivable violence. On such occasions 

 the sea is white with foam ; vapours seem to darken the 

 air ; and at a distance of several miles the sound of its 

 repeated blows is like the roar of a far-off tempest. At 

 other times he makes an immense bound, raising his 

 whole body above the surface, a spectacle which may 

 excite the admiration of the veteran whaler, but to the 

 inexperienced is certainly a source of terror. 



The whale possesses the power of giving utterance to 

 strange wild cries, likened by some authorities to the 

 bellowing of bulls. But he has no voice ; and there can 

 be little doubt but that these sounds are produced by the 

 blowing apparatus. The spiracles are often described, as 

 vaguely as incorrectly, as if they were fountains throwing 

 up water to the height of forty or fifty feet ; but Dr. 



