TURTLES AND PORPOISES 51 



I saw my first whales one morning while work- 

 ing in the bows with the watch under Mr. Lan- 

 der's supervision. A school of finbacks was out 

 ahead moving in leisurely fashion toward the 

 brig. There were about twenty of them and the 

 jsea was dotted with their fountains. "Blow!" 

 breathed old man Landers with mild interest as 

 though to himself. "Blow!" boomed Captain 

 Winchester in his big bass voice from the quarter- 

 deck. " Nothin' but finbacks, sir," shouted the 

 boatsteerer from the mast-head. "All right," 

 sang back the captain. " Let 'em blow." It 

 was easy for these old whalers even at this dis- 

 tance to tell they were not sperm whales. Their 

 fountains rose straight into the air. A sperm 

 whale's spout slants up from the water diagon- 

 ally. 



The whales were soon all about the ship, seem- 

 ingly unafraid, still traveling leisurely, their 

 heads rising and falling rhythmically, and at each 

 rise blowing up a fountain of mist fifteen feet 

 high. The fountains looked like water; some 

 water surely was mixed with them; but I was 

 told that the mist was the breath of the animals 



