For whole days and nights together we sometimes lay almost "as
idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean," when the deep blue
dome above matched the deep blue plain below, and never a fleck
of white appeared in sky or sea. This perfect stop to our
progress troubled none, although it aggravates a merchant skipper
terribly. As for the objects of our search, they had apparently
all migrated other-whither, for never a sign of them did we see.
Finbacks, a species of rorqual, were always pretty numerous, and
as if they knew how useless they were to us, came and played
around like exaggerated porpoises. One in particular kept us
company for several days and nights. We knew him well, from a
great triangular scar on his right side, near the dorsal fin.
Sometimes he would remain motionless by the side of the ship, a
few feet below the surface, as distinctly in our sight as a gold-
fish in a parlour globe; or he would go under the keel, and
gently chafe his broad back to and fro along it, making queer
tremors run through the vessel, as if she were scraping over a
reef. Whether from superstition or not I cannot tell, but I
never saw any creature injured out of pure wantonness, except
sharks, while I was on board the CACHALOT.
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