202 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the manager's son, and Mr. Scott, the secretary, I was enabled 

 to make some notes on the anatomy of these strange mammals. 



The boats — small steamers of from 80 to 100 tons — go out 

 before daylight, and, as it was impossible to obtain sleeping 

 accommodation on them, I put up for a few nights at a small 

 hotel, ' The Public House Trust,' on the bluff, close to the ship- 

 ping and whaling stations, in order to avoid the waste of time in 

 going to and from the town, and thus I was amongst the Whales 

 from sunrise to dark. After the first day, when I exchanged with 

 the captain and mate my luncheon of sandwiches and cake for a 

 plain sailor's meal of boiled pork and pea- soup, I was made quite 

 one of them, for by these signs they were satisfied that I was 

 not likely to give them trouble, at any rate with sea-sickness. 



I was aboard before the crew was well awake, and had a cup 

 of coffee with the skipper as we slipped away from our moorings 

 at nooi-dag;* then up on the bridge to look out for Whales. No 

 words can describe the glory of the rising sun in these regions ; 

 it is sublimely grand. As it had been blowing hard the day 

 before, there was a big "swell" on and a rough sea, and we were 

 making similar weather to what the little ' Telegraph ' used to 

 do in the winter time from Poole to Swanage in the old days. 



There are, I believe, nine of these steamers belonging to the 

 two companies, and as they steam out of the harbour, between 

 the bluff and the breakwater, they spread out fan-fashioned, and 

 everyone is at once on the qui vive for the Whales, for they come 

 quite close into the shore. 



We soon sighted a pair of Whales (the skipper told me that 

 they generally go in pairs), and gave chase. We got within 

 range and fired, but owing to the tossing of the boat, the muzzle 

 of the gun was too much elevated, and the harpoon passed over 

 them ; their sense of hearing must be fairly good, for they 

 immediately dived, coming right under the boat, making their 

 way astern, and eventually dodged us. I had no idea before 

 how crafly these huge creatures can be ; this is no doubt 

 engendered by the constant harrying they get from the whalers. 

 Two or three others also slipped away from us in the same way, 

 but at last we got on the tracks of a single Whale, which kept 



:: A Dutch colonial word to be roughly translated as the hour before 

 dawn, when there is seen the first red streak in the eastern horizon. 



