GETTING SOUTEWABD. 61 



although it aggravates a merchant skipper terribly. As 

 for the objects of our search, they had apparently all 

 migrated other- whither, for never a sign of them did we 

 see. Finbacks, a species of rorqual, were always pretty 

 numerous, and, as if they knew how useless they were 

 to us, came and played around like exaggerated porpoises. 

 One in particular kept us company for several days and 

 nights. We knew him well, from a great triangular scar 

 on his right side, near the dorsal fin. Sometimes he 

 would remain motionless by the side of the ship, a few 

 feet below the surface, as distinctly in our sight as a 

 gold-fish in a parlour globe ; or he would go under the 

 keel, and gently chafe his broad back to and fro along it, 

 making queer tremors run through the vessel, as if she 

 were scraping over a reef. Whether from superstition 

 or not I cannot tell, but I never saw any creature in- 

 jured out of pure wantonness, except sharks, while I was 

 on board the Cachalot. Of course, injuries to men do 

 not count. Had that finback attempted to play about a 

 passenger ship in such a fashion, all the loungers on 

 board would have been popping at him with their revolvers 

 and rifles without ever a thought of compunction ; yet 

 here, in a vessel whose errand was whale-fishing, a whale 

 enjoyed perfect immunity. It was very puzzling. At 

 last my curiosity became too great to bear any longer, 

 and I sought my friend Mistah Jones at what I con- 

 sidered a favourable opportunity. I found him very 

 gracious and communicative, and I got such a lecture 

 on the natural history of the cetacea as I have never 

 forgotten — the outcome of a quarter-century's experience 

 of them, and afterwards proved by me to be correct in 

 every detail, which latter is a great deal more than 

 can be said of any written natural history that ever I 



