To my great relief we saw no more whales of the kind we were after during our passage round the Cape.  The weather we were having was splendid for making a passage, but to be dodging about among those immense rollers, or towed athwart them by a wounded whale in so small a craft as one of our whale-boats, did not have any attractions for me.  There was little doubt in any of our minds that, if whales were seen, off we must go while daylight lasted, let the weather be what it might.  So when one morning I went to the wheel, to find the course N.N.E. instead of E. by N., it may be taken for granted that the change was a considerable relief to me.  It was now manifest that we were bound up into the Indian Ocean, although of course I knew nothing of the position of the districts where whales were to be looked for.  Gradually we crept northward, the weather improving every day as we left the “roaring forties” astern.  While thus making northing we had several fine catches of porpoises, and saw many rorquals, but sperm whales appeared to have left the locality.  However, the “old man” evidently knew what he was about, as we were not now cruising, but making a direct passage for some definite place.

At last we sighted land, which, from the course which we had been steering, might have been somewhere on the east coast of Africa, but for the fact that it was right ahead, while we were pointing at the time about N.N.W.  By-and-by I came to the conclusion that it must be the southern extremity of Madagascar, Cape St. Mary, and, by dint of the closest, attention to every word I heard uttered while at the wheel by the officers, found that my surmise was correct.  We skirted this point pretty closely, heading to the westward, and, when well clear of it, bore up to the northward, again for the Mozambique Channel.  Another surprise.  The very idea of whaling in the Mozambique Channel seemed too ridiculous to mention; yet here we were, guided by a commander who, whatever his faults, was certainly most keen in his attention to business, and the unlikeliest man imaginable to take the ship anywhere unless he anticipated a profitable return for his visit.

*

CHAPTER X

A VISIT TO SOME STRANGE PLACES

We had now entered upon what promised to be the most interesting part of our voyage.  As a commercial speculation, I have to admit that the voyage was to me a matter of absolute indifference.  Never, from the first week of my being on board, had I cherished any illusions upon that score, for it was most forcibly impressed on my mind that, whatever might be the measure of success attending our operations, no one of the crew forward could hope to benefit by it.  The share of profits was so small, and the time taken to earn it so long, such a number of clothes were worn out and destroyed by us, only to be replaced from the ship’s slop-chest at high prices, that I had