Big Game at Sea 



sea fights ever witnessed by man at so close a range. 

 They were so near that the blood of the whale 

 changed the water about them from turquoise blue to 

 incarnadine ; and the waves created by the leaping and 

 rushing of the ponderous body made their boat rise 

 and fall, as though on a heavy sea. The orcas tore 

 the wide lid-like lips of the whale, biting great pieces 

 from the tongue, and, crazed with the lust for blood, 

 rent the huge creature until it seemed completely 

 cowed, lying on the surface, making ineffective swings 

 from right to left, rising, then sounding in a fury 

 of indecision and fright. 



For nearly half an hour this combat continued, 

 then the whale, apparently exhausted, was literally 

 hauled down and disappeared. The following day 

 the orcas were sailing up and down the channel as 

 though nothing had happened. 



As they leaped into the air when attacking the 

 whale, an excellent opportunity was afforded the 

 spectators to observe their beauties, as this tiger of 

 the sea is a most striking and attractive animal. 

 They appeared to be twenty or twenty-five feet in 

 length, the skin a polished jet-black marble-like sur- 

 face, devoid of the slightest parasite, smooth and 

 glistening in the sunlight; black above, pure white 

 beneath, a contrast so sharp that when leaping in 

 mid-air and the ventral surface turned toward the 

 observers, they appeared like white whales, while 

 from the opposite side the spectators would have seen 



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