To the River Plate and back - 1913 Author:William Jacob Holland Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III LIVING THINGS IN THE WATERS " In the seas and fountains that shine with mom See, Love is waking, and Life is born, And breathing myriads arc br... more »eaking from night To rejoice, like us, in motion and light."—Bryant. WE saw but little life during the voyage. Now and then we caught sight of a school of porpoises in the distance, and on several occasions as I stood at the bow of the ship I observed these creatures racing with the great vessel as it forged through the waves. Once there were ten of them, five on each side, and they kept up with the steamer for twenty minutes, although she was going at fourteen knots an hour. They hardly seemed to move their bodies as they made their onward rush, except when they took a plunge. Just before they rose for their leap out of the water they made three or four rapid strokes of the tail from side to side, and thus propelled shot forth from the wave into the air and descended at a steep slant, only immediately to rise again. The open nostril or blow-hole was conspicuous as they emerged. The bodies of the two biggest specimens appeared to be scratched or scarred, as if they had been fighting. The race they made with the ship was quite exciting but at last they apparently became tired, and, shooting away to the right and to the left, disappeared.Hearts of muscle could not keep up in the race against the tireless heart of steel, which unceasingly pulsed within the great ship. For two days before we reached Bahia whales were rather numerous. We often saw them spouting. The water driven from their nostrils looks like a puff of rifle-smoke. None of those which I happened to see was very near to the ship, but an excitable gentleman informed me one day that in the morning, while I was at breakfast, a whale had been seen alongside, ...« less