with finery--devoting days to scouring the country and collecting it. My fair countrywomen must not think me embittered against their sex, or that I am anxious to do them injustice--God forbid; as a man and a sailor, I would scorn to do so; but as an American, I feel the superiority of my countrywomen over all of the sex in other countries that it has been my privilege to see; and to favorably compare these females with those of my native country, would, in my eyes, be an insult to the latter. I must advert to another circumstance before taking final leave of the Vasse for “fifty-six”--that is the existence of the whale-fisheries in this bay; there being one here, and one thirty miles to the north-east, at a town known as Bunbry. At certain seasons the right and humpback whales resort to the various bays on this coast for the purpose of producing their young. A look-out is stationed on an eminence ashore, and several boat’s crews being near at hand, at the appearance of a whale the alarm is given, and they start in pursuit. At times their work is very easy, but if the whale should run out to sea, after being struck, they are obliged to tow him to the shears, and frequently a day and night are consumed in this arduous employment. If the whale is attended by a calf, they always fasten to the latter first, knowing that the mother, in her solicitude for her offspring, is very careful not to use her tremendous flukes; or if a humpback, her sweeping fins: but woe betide the boat, unless an experienced boat-header directs it, that is in the vicinity when she discovers that her calf is dead. She then remains close to the lifeless body, striking right and left with flukes and fins, to avenge her loss; and as the slightest tap from these formidable weapons would cause destruction, it requires all the boat-header’s adroitness to avoid them. The officers, boatsteerers, and, if they can by any means be procured, two-thirds of the crews are Americans: we having a world-wide reputation for skill in this pursuit. CHAPTER IV.