Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/140

 hard and dry, and large as buckshot, though not at all like hail-stones. They were pure white. We were surrounded all day by a very large number of huge sperm whales, whose curiosity seemed to be greatly excited by  our presence. They would come up close aboard, puffing and blowing like locomotives. They were covered with so many great barnacles that they looked like large  rocks alongside the ship. When coming up to blow, the

AURORA AUSTRALIS.

little whales, or calves, were as spry and active in their native element as kittens. It was not pleasant to have them so close aboard, and it was convincing proof that  they knew not the enmity of man.

This night we had a splendid display of the aurora australis. It excelled everything of the kind we had ever witnessed, and appeared like some enchanted vision. Across the whole horizon, overhead, and all around were seen flashes of light showing all the prismatic colors. At the same time, or in quick succession, it flashed in all