TALES OF FISHES 



Next day we were all out there on the west side, 

 a few miles offshore. The ocean appeared to be full 

 of blackfish. They are huge, black marine creatures, 

 similar to a porpoise in movement, but many times 

 larger, and they have round, blunt noses that look 

 like battering-rams. Some seemed as big as gun- 

 boats, and when they heaved up on the swells we 

 could see the white stripes below the black. I was 

 inclined to the belief that this species was the orca, 

 a whale-killing fish. Boatmen and deep-sea men re- 

 port these blackfish to be dangerous and had better 

 be left alone. They certainly looked ugly. We be- 

 lieved they were chasing tuna. 



The channel that day contained more whales 

 than I ever saw before at one time. We counted six 

 pairs in sight. I saw as many as four of the funnel- 

 like whale spouts of water on the horizon at once. 

 It was very interesting to watch these monsters of 

 the deep. Once when we were all on top of the 

 boat we ran almost right upon two whales. The 

 first spouted about fifty feet away. The sea seemed 

 to open up, a terrible roar issued forth, then came 

 a cloud of spray and rush of water. Then we saw 

 another whale just rising a few yards ahead. My 

 hair stood up stiff. Captain Dan yelled, leaped 

 down to reverse the engine. The whale saw us and 

 swerved. Dan's action and the quickness of the 

 whale prevented a collision. As it was, I looked 

 down in the clear water and saw the huge, gleaming, 

 gray body of the whale as he passed. That was 

 another sight to record in the book of memory. 

 The great fiukes of his tail moved with surprising 

 swiftness and the water bulged on the surface. Then 



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