188 NARKATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



77^, but we have, for several days past, been favored with cool, 

 refreshing showers in the evening, which tend very much to our 

 comfort. 



Saw, this afternoon, in latitude 23° 20' N., longitude 149° 30' 

 W., a " school" of eight or ten sperm, whales. Several passed 

 within twenty yards of the vessel, and we had an excellent 

 opportunity of observing them. They were so near that w^e 

 could distinctly see the expansion of the nostrils as they spouted 

 the brine before them, with a noise like the blowing of a mighty 

 forge. There were among them several calves, which were 

 sporting around their dams, sometimes dashing against them 

 head foremost, and gliding half out of w ater upon the backs of 

 the old ones. 



We were followed to-day by several large dolphins. I had' 

 often heard of the surpassing beauty of this fish, but my imagi- 

 nation had never pictured any thing half so splendid as I then 

 witnessed. We were going at about three knots, and the fish 

 easily kept up with us, swimming in the wake without any appa^ 

 rent exertion, or even motion of their fins. At one moment they 

 appeared to be of a clear, uniform grass-green, glistening and 

 sparkling in the waves like emeralds, and in the next, they had 

 changed their color wholly, appearing of an iridescent purple, 

 with large oval spots of green and shining red ; again, they 

 were speckled and striped with all the colors of the rainbow, 

 but without any one appearing predominant, and these changes 

 were going on every minute while they remained near us, which 

 was for the space of half an hour. When caught, and taken 

 from the water, it is said that these changes occur precisely as 

 when in their native element, with scarcely any diminution of 

 brilliancy; and as vitality becomes less active, the variations are 

 less frequent, until the colors finally settle into a dark greenish 

 hue, and the animal is dead. 



January 2d, 1835. — This evening at 5 o'clock, we made dis- 



