CACHELOT BKEACHING. 
351 
and was seen no more. * I learnt that Whales were 
not unusual visitors in these in-shore waters, and 
though rarely taken, a then recent instance of a mis- 
adventure which threw a Cachelot into one of the 
harbours on the north coast of Haiti was related to me. 
“ The bay of Fort Dauphin is a very remarkable 
one. The entry into it is by a narrow gullet, about 
three thousand yards in length, comparatively nar- 
row, hut having a depth of from fourteen to 
twenty-five fathoms. The water then expands into 
a land-locked space two leagues in length by a good 
* In another communication my friend transcribed from his journal 
some accompaniments of this scene, which will be read with interest. 
“We had set sail on the 30th April at night, and the next morning 
found ourselves to the eastward of the Caimite island, with the low 
shores of Barraderes just before us We lay becalmed 
nearly the whole day, May 1 st, off the low peninsula, having the little 
town of Trou before us, beneath dark forest-clad steeps. Within the 
peninsula of Barraderes, the sea forms an estuary, seemingly very 
secure against the prevalent north winds, the worst weather on this 
coast. A little breeze towards the afternoon set us on to the Point 
of Tapion, which we reached at sun-down. There is little variety in 
the chain of hills forming the coast of L’Anse a Veau, but between 
Miragoane and Petit Goave, the scenery to one coasting near the shore, 
as we were, is sufl5ciently interesting. Here and there cliffs — an occa- 
sional border of sandy beach — a forest margin — green slopes — dark 
stream-enlivened dells — and, above all, a fine line of broken summits, 
presented an interesting coast view, rendered still more pleasing by the 
bluff of the Tapion in the distance. The wind came in flaws and 
spurts, so we passed on sometimes slowly, sometimes rapidly enough. 
It was altogether an agreeable evening’s trip. A parcel of Dolphins 
and Bonito-fish gambolled around us ; and to the north, against the 
blue hazy line of the Gonave, for we were in the passage between that 
island and the main shore, the whitened spray was dashed up in 
sudden splashes by the leaps of the Cachelot, escaping the attacks of 
either the Espadron (^Xiphias) or the Sawfish (Pm^^s).” 
