Its Length Averages
From Eight To Fourteen Feet; There Is No Dorsal Fin, And The Tail Is
Horizontal; Colour Blue, And White Beneath.
Its means of propulsion are
two paddles, with which it also crawls along the bottom, and beneath which
are
Situated the udders, with teats exactly like a cow's. Its flesh is far
from bad, resembling lean beef in appearance, though hardly so good to the
taste, and the skin can be manufactured into gelatine. I have often
wondered that this most useful animal was not oftener captured. A fishing
establishment with a good boat, a trained crew, and proper appliances for
extracting the oil, could not fail to return a large profit to the
proprietors, and every now and then they could kill a whale, one or more of
which could be frequently seen disporting themselves in the waters of the
bay.
[Illustration - BAY ON HINCHINBROOK ISLAND, WITH NATIVES.]
By ten o'clock we had reached Garden Island, and beached the boat on a long
sandy spit that stretched into the sea. Leaving one man as boat-keeper, we
spread ourselves into line, and regularly beat the little island from end
to end, but without finding a single black; we could, however, see their
smoke-signals arising from Gould Island, and observed several heavily-laden
canoes making the best of their way towards Hinchinbrook. Our search
having been unsuccessful, we hurried down to the boat, with the intention
of cutting the fugitives off, but found to our disgust that the tide had
fallen so low during our absence that our united strength was insufficient
to move the boat, so we were perforce compelled to remain until the return
of the water. This did not in reality so much signify, indeed, some of the
party were rather averse to our plan of intercepting the canoes, arguing
that if closely pressed, the blacks might make an end of their captives.
However this might be, there was no help for it, we were stuck fast until
the afternoon, so had to summon such philosophy as we possessed, and while
away the time as best we could. The boat's sail, spread under the shade of
a tree, kept the intense heat a little at bay until after dinner, and this
most essential part of the day's programme have been done ample justice to,
and the pipes lighted and smoked out, we wandered about the long space left
bare by the tide, amusing ourselves by collecting oysters, cowrie shells,
and periwinkles.
The way we captured the two latter was by turning over the rocks, to the
under sides of which we found them adhering in great numbers, sticking on
like snails to a garden wall. Some of the cowries were very beautiful,
particularly those of a deep brown colour approaching to black. This kind,
however, were rather rare, and the lucky finder of a large one excited some
envy. These beautiful little shells are of all sizes, from half an inch to
two inches in length.
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