60 
A LARGE WHALE. 
trate up along liis feathers. lie was evidently a very 
polite old gentleman, or he had a great weakness for his 
tail, — it was hard to say which. I was forced, therefore, 
to fire as he presented his side in turning, and this I did 
several times with no eftect; he did not even shake his 
valued tail. The Ho. 4 shot evidently glanced from the 
smooth and polished coating. At last he forgot his 
breeding, turned his tail upon me, and was notified of 
Ills breach of etiquette through the agency of both 
barrels. This seemed to cause him considerable an- 
noyance for a short time, but at the end of a minute 
ho ceased to shake his caudal appendage and became 
as majestic in his movements as ever. I now went 
below and got some bbb shot, determined to ^try the 
virtue of stones;' and, like the boy in the apple-tree, he . 
came down at the first summons. I looked at his heavy 
body and snowy plumage as he floated by, and felt a 
pang of remorse for having so wantonly destroyed so 
noble a bird.” 
‘‘Hov. 27, — Here comes a ^fish-story.' One of our 
old quartermasters, Petei'son by name, told me a few 
moments since, with the most serious face in the world, 
that a whale had come as close as ten paces to the ship 
during his watch, and that he was as long as the ship — 
within a few feet. I asked him how much he meant by 
‘a few feet,’ and was amused at his answering, ^Ten or 
twelve, sir!' He thus made his whale over a hundred 
feet long, and evidently believed what he was saying. 
^ His wake was like that of a ship,’ he said ; ‘ and when 
he lifted to blow, his head was at least ten feet above 
the sea.’ I give his yarn a place here because the old 
