350 HAITI. 



shores of the Pacific, — for there they annually 

 congregate in the open bays and harbours ; but here 

 they are not unfrequently found upon the coast in 

 pairs, and sometimes by three and four together. If 

 my own experience would warrant me in fixing the 

 period of their appearance with us, I should say that 

 usually they come hither in spring. 



" The muzzle of the Cachelot is so remarkably 

 shaped, and its spouting is so distinguishable from 

 that of the Arctic Whales, that there is no mistaking it 

 for any other of the Cetacea, whether it be seen near 

 or far. I was in a small coasting vessel in May, 1832, 

 in the Bight of Leogan, going from Jeremie to Port 

 au Prince, when at about some five miles from the 

 Island of Gonave, with light winds just pleasantly 

 stirring the sea into ripples, we observed about two 

 miles from us a Cachelot Whale slowly sinking and 

 rising, and spouting as he went along. All of a 

 sudden to our great surprise we saw him ' hreaclu 

 He leaped clear out of the water, showing his huge 

 bulk in the air, and seemed half as long as the dark 

 wooded cliffs of the island against which his form 

 w^as relieved. * He rose upward, — and descended 

 splashing the water to a great height. The white 

 foam, where his broad length struck the surface, 

 mantled like a cloud and gave out a sound like that 

 from a distant gun. He then immediately fluked, as 

 the whalers say, showing his tail uppermost, and sunk 



" Leviathan, 



Hugest of living creatures, on the deep 

 Stretch'd like a promontory." Milton. 



