Strange to say, the sperm whale does not appear to be a fond mother.  At the advent of danger she often deserts her offspring and in such cases it is hardly conceivable that she ever finds it again.  It is true that she is not gifted with such long “arms” as the BALAENAE wherewith to cuddle her young one to her capacious bosom while making tracks from her enemies; nor is she much “on the fight,” not being so liberally furnished with jaw as the fierce and much larger bull—­for this is the only species of whale in which there exists a great disproportion between the sexes in point of size.  Such difference as may obtain between the MYSTICETA is slightly in favour of the female.  I never heard of a cow-cachalot yielding more than fifty barrels of oil; but I have both heard of, and seen, bulls carrying one hundred and fifty.  One individual taken by us down south was seventy feet long, and furnished us with more than the latter amount; but I shall come to him by-and-by.  Just one more point before leaving this (to me) fascinating subject for the present.

To any one studying the peculiar configuration of a cachalot’s mouth, it would appear a difficult problem how the calf could suck.  Certainly it puzzled me more than a little.  But, when on the “line” grounds we got among a number of cows one calm day, I saw a little fellow about fifteen feet long, apparently only a few days old, in the very act.  The mother lay on one side, with the breast nearly at the waters edge; while the calf, lying parallel to its parent, with its head in the same direction, held the teat sideways in the angle of its jaw, with its snout protruding from the surface.  Although we caught several cow-humpbacks with newly born calves, I never had an opportunity of seeing them suck.

Gradually our pleasant days at Vau Vau drew to a close.  So quiet and idyllic had the life been, so full of simple joys, that most of us, if not all, felt a pang at the thought of our imminent departure from the beautiful place.  Profitable, in a pecuniary sense, the season had certainly failed to be, but that was the merest trifle compared with the real happiness and peace enjoyed during our stay.  Even the terrible tragedy which had taken one of our fellows from us could not spoil the actual enjoyment of our visit, sad and touching as the event undoubtedly was.  There was always, too, a sufficiently arduous routine of necessary duties to perform, preventing us from degenerating into mere lotus eaters in that delicious afternoon-land.  Nor even to me, friendless nomad as I was, did the thought ever occur, “I will return no more.”