224 THE WILD. 



deter them. Apparently discovering us of a sudden, 

 many of them plunged headlong down into the water, 

 tossing their fiery tails high into the air, and leaving the 

 sea still more sparkling from the violent surging of their 

 descent. 



" Their general course seemed the same as our own ; 

 to the westward. To remove from them, we at last out 

 oars, and pulled towards the north. So doing, we were 

 steadily pursued by a solitary whale that must have taken 

 our boat for a kindred iish. Spite of all our efforts, he 

 drew near and nearer ; at length rubbing his fiery flank 

 against the gunwale, here and there leaving long strips 

 of the glossy transparent substance, which, thin as a 

 gossamer, invests the body of the cachalot. 



" In terror at a sight so new, Samoa shrank. But 

 Jarl and I, more used to the intimate companionship of 

 the whales, pushed the boat away from it with our oars ; 

 a thing often done in the fishery. 



"But, to my great joy, the monster at last departed; 

 rejoining the shoal, whose lofty spoutings of flame were 

 still visible upon the distant line of the horizon, showing 

 there like the fitful starts of the Aurora Borealis. 



" The sea retained its luminosity for about three hours, 

 at the expiration of half that period beginning to fade ; 

 and, excepting occasional faint illuminations, consequent 

 upon the rapid darting of fish under water, the phe- 

 nomenon at last wholly disappeared. 



" Heretofore, I had beheld several exhibitions of marine 

 phosphorescence, both in the Atlantic and Pacific ; but 



