A strip of blubber from the back of a gray whale with the short flipper at the end of it. ] About the shoals at the mouth of one of the lagoons, in 1860, we saw large numbers of the monsters. It was at the low stage of the tide, and the shoal places were plainly marked by the constantly foaming breakers. To our surprise we saw many of the whales going through the surf where the depth of water was barely sufficient to float them. We could discern in many places, by the white sand that came to the surface, that they must be near or touching the bottom. One in particular lay for half an hour in the breakers, playing, as seals often do in a heavy surf; turning from side to side with half extended fins, and moved apparently by the ground-swell which was breaking; at times making a playful spring with its bending flukes, throwing its body clear of the water, coming down with a heavy splash, then making two or three spouts, and again settling under water; perhaps the next moment its head would appear, and with the heavy swell the animal would roll over in a listless manner, to all appearances enjoying the sport intensely. We passed close to this sportive animal, and had only thirteen feet of water.[9] Footnote 9: (_l. c._, p. 24.) Often, when being hunted, the Korean whales would swim into water so shallow that the ships could not follow, and remain there until the men had given up the chase. CHAPTER XVII SOME HABITS OF THE GRAY WHALE Although the stomachs of a great number of gray whales were carefully examined, I could never discover what constitutes their food, and no one else seems to have had better success. In every case the stomach was more or less filled with dark green water in which the only solid materials were bits of kelp, a little seaweed, and small masses of light green gelatinous material. The stomachs of two individuals contained a number of waterworn pebbles and several small pieces of what appeared to be finely shredded flesh still connected by its fibers; this certainly was not fish. It is probable that the kelp, seaweed, and pebbles had been taken in with other material and were not swallowed intentionally.