WHALING VOYAGE. 
269 
ment. We saw numbers of whales surrounding those 
islands, and we had the good fortune to capture several ; 
they were mostly females accompanied by their young 
ones, although we saw some large males occasionally, 
and once in considerable numbers; I then imagined, 
from seeing so many together, and all of them going 
fast in one direction towards the south-west, that they 
were migrating. 
But we had not been long off those islands before 
we experienced one of the most dreadful typhoons, or 
Indian hurricanes, that the world ever produced, and 
which astonished some of our oldest seamen. We had 
had nothing but calms and light airs of wind for several 
days, when our attention was drawn to an increasing 
swell of the sea which came from the north-east, soon 
after which the atmosphere assumed a very sombre and 
melancholy appearance, having a peculiar light, from the 
sun’s rays piercing remarkable clouds of a dull ochreous 
red colour, which tinged the ship, the sea, and every- 
thing around. All of us expected some convulsion of 
nature was about to ensue, which caused us to feel 
both sad and uncomfortable, and even the sea-caps that 
broke upon the enormous waves, which had now fright- 
fully increased, seemed to us to make a melancholy 
moan. The birds which before had attended us in 
considerable numbers, now left us to our lonely fate, 
and had betaken themselves to some safe retreat at a 
distance, or had resorted to the hollow rock, the thick 
forest, or shady glen. Our captain, not behind in care 
for the safety of the ship, ordered all sail to be taken in 
