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72 



WHALE STRANDED. 



cause. A whale was stranded upon one of the 

 sand-banks at the mouth of the harbour ; this 

 being the third time that the inhabitants of Ita- 

 maraca had been favoured with visitors of this 

 description. Jangadas were sent out to it, and 

 when the tide came in, it floated, and was 

 towed into the harbour, where the persons who 

 were employed in the business landed it, as near 

 as they could at high water-mark, in front of and 

 distant from my house about three hundred 

 yards. Many of my neighbours were occupied in 

 making oil ; for anyone who pleased was at liberty 

 to take as much of the blubber as he could 

 make use of ; and one man fairly got into the 

 whale, and ladled out the fat which was melted 

 by the heat of the sun. When the people left 

 the carcase, either at mid-day or at night, it was 

 attacked by numerous flights of urubus, and 

 was literally covered by them. The trees round 

 about the spot were occupied by these enor- 

 mous birds, which were waiting for an oppor- 

 tunity of satisfying their boundless appetites. 

 The urubu is nearly twice the size of the com- 

 mon crow of England ; it is quite black, except- 

 ing at the point of the beak, which is white, as I 

 have been told, but this I did not observe. 

 Wherever there happens to be the carcase of an 

 animal, these birds assemble shortly after the 

 death of the beast, and they seem to arrive in 

 greater or less numbers according to the size of 



