142 TEE CRUISE OF THE " CACHALOT." 



numbers of whales found there must have taken place. 

 But it must also be remembered, that in modern steam 

 navigation certain well-defined courses are laid down, 

 which vessels follow from point to point with hardly 

 any deviation therefrom, and that consequently littlo 

 disturbance of the sea by their panting propellers takes 

 place, except upon these marine pathways ; as, for 

 instance, in the Eed Sea, where the examination of 

 thousands of log-books proved conclusively that, except 

 upon straight lines drawn from point to point between 

 Suez to Perim, the sea is practically unused to-day. 



The few Arab dhows and loitering surveying ships 

 hardly count in this connection, of course. At any rate, 

 we had not entered the straits, but were cruising between 

 Car Nicobar and Junkseylon, when we ** met up " with 

 a full-grown cachalot, as ugly a customer as one could 

 wish. From nine a.m. till dusk the battle raged — for 

 I have often noticed that unless you kill your whale 

 pretty soon, he gets so wary, as well as fierce, that you 

 stand a gaudy chance of being worn down yourselves 

 before you settle accounts with your adversary. This 

 affair certainly looked at one time as if such would be 

 the case with us ; but along about five p.m., to our great 

 joy, we got him killed. The ejected food was in masses 

 of enormous size, larger than any we had yet seen on 

 the voyage, some of them being estimated to be of the 

 size of our hatch-house, viz. 8 feet X 6 feet X 6 feet. 

 The whale having been secured alongside, all hands 

 were sent below, as they were worn out with the day's 

 work. The third mate being ill, I had been invested 

 with the questionable honour of standing his watch, on 

 account of my sea experience and growing favour with 

 the chief. Very bitterly did I resent the privilege at 



