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We crossed several plains on which vegetation was scanty, probably owing to the hardness of the soil, which was a stiff loamy clay, and which must check the growth of plants, by preventing the roots from striking freely into it. The river where we stopped for the night appeared to have risen considerably, and the fish were rolling about on the surface of the water with a noise like porpoises.
The land on both sides seemed entirely bare of trees and shrubs, but had abundance of good roads and sandy bays, with great store of fish, porpoises, penguins and other birds. Having a north wind at their entrance into this passage, they directed their course S.S.W. and going at a brisk rate, they were at noon in lat. 55° 36' S. and then held a S.W. course with a brisk gale.
The Ship by the Log has made 4 minutes East. Wind Westerly; course South 2 degrees East; distance 92 miles; latitude 45 degrees 17 minutes South, longitude 61 degrees 7 minutes 45 seconds West. Tuesday, 3rd. Fresh gales and clear weather; under Single Reef Topsails. P.M. Saw some Whales and Porpoises and small red Crawfish, some of which we Caught.
Ours, which I learn from the Encyclopædia, is the Coryphoena hippurus of naturalists, is totally different from their Delphinus phocoena, termed by us the porpoise, respecting which there exists a popular belief amongst seamen that the wind may be expected from the quarter to which a shoal of porpoises are observed to steer.
They certainly were enormous creatures; and there must have been a good two hundred of them. "Here they are," said the porpoises, poking their heads out of the water. "Good!" said the Doctor. "Now just explain to them, will you please? that this is a very serious matter for all the living creatures in this land.
Tom and Annie Lee, however, stood quietly by the bulwarks, holding fast on, as they had promised their mother that they would, and though longing to join in the fun, they tried to amuse themselves with watching the foaming waves the swift vessel left behind, and the awkward porpoises which seemed to be rolling themselves with delight in the sunny waters.
The bay at that time was utterly quiet; there was no sound but from a school of porpoises somewhere out of sight behind the point; yet a certain fear withheld me on the threshold of my venture. Sad sea-feelings, scraps of my uncle's superstitions, thoughts of the dead, of the grave, of the old broken ships, drifted through my mind.
The devil will turn them into porpoises first!" "Where is the hamari now where? By St. Michael, the father of fishermen, he is finding what it is to have more noumiae than brains! Ha, ha, ha!" Nevertheless the coolest of the thirty-five men then scudding the slippery waterway was the hamari he had started the coolest he was the coolest now.
I have seen a "school" of porpoises in the Pacific swimming for hours alongside one of our fleetest ocean-steamers, darting a few yards ahead now and then, as if by mere volition, cutting their way through the water with the directness of an arrow. The porpoise is playful at times, and his favorite game is a sort of leap-frog.
His calculation, however, proved to be false, for the current turned out to be setting from the opposite direction and therefore gradually conveyed him toward the westward. Shortly after 8 o'clock Paul was singing as he paddled along and came very near running into a school of porpoises.
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