How Whales BreathE;. 75 



the surface of the body, by reason of the external \vater, renders 

 the emptying of the lungs very easy, and the , out-rush is not 

 only swift and powerful enough to clear, the CQriipUq-9^te,d..na.sal 

 passages, but to throw up the vapoury breath to a. considerable 

 height ; as we have seen. 



I have on many occasions been privileged not: only, to 

 examine the carcases of these gigantic creatures after capture 

 but to see them at close quarters when enjoying themselves 

 in active life. On the Pacific coast, while cruising up the great 

 inlets, and between the numerous islands, along the British 

 Columbia sea-board, I frequently found myself* in the midst 

 of a school of whales, numbering in some cases at least 

 twenty. The sea was as calm as a lake, and in the cool 

 still atmosphere, the great clouds of vapour shot up at intervals 

 all around, while the monsters glided with slow gracefulness after 

 the shoals of minute animals on which the}- were feeding. At 

 times one, in a fit of playfulness, would cause a great commotion, 

 and with his flippers and tail throw up a storm of spray and 

 foam ; but the school as a whole moved leisurely and noiselessly 

 like dark shadows rising and sinking in the water. On certain 

 occasions, when engaged in fi.shery investigations on the Scottish 

 coast I found myself in close proximity to schools of gigantic 

 Rorquals. They rose around our fishing yawl on all sides, and 

 constantl}'' threw up columns of white vapour accompanied by a 

 deep bass snort or sigh like the gasp of the piston in a Cornish 

 engine. When one of these mighty creatures, fifty or sixty feet 

 in length, spouted within a few yards of us, the vibration made 

 our vessel tremble, and one can understand the feelings of the 

 novice on board ship who, in the long night watch, saw clouds 

 of vapour and heard terrific sighs and snorts, and asked appeal- 

 ingly " How soon will I be off this perilous duty with those 

 great guns afiring off so close to me ? " 



This process, by which whales breathe, inay be likened to 



