PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
$62 
nishes an oil superior in taste to that of the olive. The meat of 
this animal is the easiest of digestion, and a quantity of it, exceed¬ 
ing that of any other food, can be eaten, without experiencing the 
slightest inconvenience. But what seems the most extraordinary 
in this animal, is the length of time that it can exist without food; 
for i have been well assured, that they have been piled away 
among the casks in the hold of a ship, where they have been kept 
eighteen months, and, when killed at the expiration of that time, 
were found to have suffered no diminution in fatness or excel¬ 
lence. They carry with them a constant supply of water, in a 
bag at the root of the neck, which contains about two gallons ; 
and on tasting that found in those we killed on board, it proved 
perfectly fresh and sweet. They are very restless when exposed 
to the light and heat of the sun, but will lie in the dark from one 
year’s end to the other without moving ; in the day-time, they 
appear remarkably quick-sighted and timid, drawing their head 
into their shell on the slightest motion of any object; but they 
are entirely destitute of hearing, as the loudest noise, even the 
firing of a gun, does not seem to alarm them in the slightest de¬ 
gree, and at night, or in the dark, they appear perfectly blind. 
After our tasting the flesh of those animals, we regretted that 
numbers of them had been thrown overboard by the crews of the 
vessels before their capture, to clear them for action ; but a few 
days afterwards, at day-light in the morning, we were so fortunate 
as to find ourselves surrounded by about fifty of them, which 
were picked up and brought on board, as they had been lying in 
the same place where they had been thrown over, incapable of 
any exertion in that element, except that of stretching out their 
long necks. 
I had merely placed a temporary crew on board the prizes, 
but took the first opportunity to make them permanent, putting 
midshipman Odenheimer in charge of the Montezuma, and mid¬ 
shipman Cowan of the Policy, giving them the- necessary direc¬ 
tions for clearing their decks of the lumber of oil casks and other 
articles, to bend all their light sails, and reave their running rig¬ 
ging, which had all been unbent and unrove, as unnecessary while 
fishing, and to preserve them from injury; I also furnished them 
