no TEE CRUISE OF TEE " CACEALOT:* 



Captain Slocum went black witli impotent rage, and, 

 after glowering at the sportive monsters, beat a retreat 

 below, unable to bear the sight any longer. During 

 his absence we had a rare treat. The whole school 

 surrounded the ship, and performed some of the 

 strangest evolutions imaginable. As if instigated by 

 one common impulse, they all elevated their massive 

 heads above the surface of the sea, and remained for 

 some time in that position, solemnly bobbing up and 

 down amid the glittering wavelets like movable boulders 

 of black rock. Then, all suddenly reversed themselves, 

 and, elevating their broad flukes in the air, commenced 

 to beat them slowly and rhythmically upon the water, 

 like so many machines. Being almost a perfect calm, 

 every movement of the great mammals could be plainly 

 seen ; some of them even passed so near to us that we 

 could see how the lower jaw hung down, while the 

 animal was swimming in a normal position. 



For over an hour they thus paraded around us, and 

 then, as if startled by some hidden danger, suddenly 

 headed off to the westward, and in a few minutes were 

 out of our sight. 



We cruised in the vicinity of the Comoro Islands for 

 two months, never quite out of sight of the mountain 

 while the weather was clear. During the whole of that 

 time we were never clear of oil on deck, one catch 

 always succeeding another before there had been time 

 to get cleared up. E ight hundred barrels of oil were added 

 to our cargo, making the undisciplined hearts of all to 

 whom whaling was a novel employment beat high with 

 hopes of a speedy completion of the cargo, and consequent 

 return. Poor innocents that we were ! How could we 

 know any better ? According to Goliath, with whom I 



