WEIGH TREATS OF TEE KRAKEN. 141 



the subject were fruitless. These veterans of the whale- 

 fishery knew that the sperm whale lived on big cuttle- 

 fish ; but they neither knew, nor cared to know, anything 

 more about these marvellous molluscs. Yet, from the 

 earliest dawn of history, observant men have been 

 striving to learn something definite about the marine 

 monsters of which all old legends of the sea have 

 something to say. 



As I mentioned in the last chapter, we were gradually 

 edging across the Indian Ocean towards Sumatra, but 

 had been checked in our course by a calm lasting a 

 whole week. A light breeze then sprang up, aided by 

 which we crept around Achin Head, the northern point 

 of the great island of Sumatra. Like some gigantic 

 beacon, the enormous mass of the Golden Mountain 

 dominated the peaceful scene. Pulo Way, or Water 

 Island, looked very inviting, and I should have been 

 glad to visit a place so well known to seamen by sight, 

 but so little known by actual touching at. Our recent 

 stay at the Cocos, however, had settled the question of 

 our calling anywhere else for some time decidedly in 

 the negative, unless we might be compelled by accident ; 

 moreover, even in these days of law and order, it is not 

 wise to go poking about among the islands of the 

 Malayan seas unless you are prepared to fight. Our 

 mission being to fight whales, we were averse to 

 running any risks, except in the lawful and necessary 

 exercise of our calling. 



It would at first sight appear strange that, in view 



of the enormous traffic of steamships through the 



Malacca Straits, so easily ** gallied " a creature as the 



cachalot should care to frequent its waters ; indeed, I 



should certainly think that a great reduction in the 

 11 



