4 
Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
enjoy that long-delayed pleasure of dragging 
his great body over the rough surfaces of the 
submerged rocks, and tearing those dreadfully 
irritating barnacles off his twenty-five feet of 
grey-white ridgy stomach. For, suddenly, he 
raised his vast head, and then “ sounded,” 
straight on end, and the child by my side 
gave a gasp of wondering terror as she saw 
his mighty tail rise a good ten feet in air 
and then slowly vanish beneath the sea. 
On went the cows and calves, apparently 
taking no heed of father’s sudden dive shore¬ 
ward. He would soon be back, they knew, as 
soon as the poor fellow had rid himself of those 
tormenting barnacles ; and so with diminished 
speed they kept in southwards towards Camden 
Haven. But just as the great bull came burst¬ 
ing through the blue depths into the greeny 
hue of six fathoms of water, we saw between 
him and the “ pod ” two small jets, like spurts 
of steam, shoot up from the water between him 
and his convoy ; and in another second the 
cows and calves had sounded in deadliest terror, 
and were rushing seaward, two thousand feet 
below. For they knew that out there in the 
depths lay their only hope of safety from their 
