I Saw The Ray Of Water Which A Whale Emitted
From His Nostrils, And Which Exactly Resembled A Fountain; The
Animal Itself Was Unfortunately Too Far From Our Ship For Us To See
Its Body.
A shark came a little nearer; it swam round our vessel
for a few moments, so that I could easily look at him:
It must have
been from sixteen to eighteen feet long.
The so-called flying-fish afforded a pretty sight. The sea was as
calm as a mirror, the evening mild and moonlight; and so we remained
on deck till late, watching the gambols of these animals. As far as
we could see, the water was covered with them. We could recognise
the younger fishes by their higher springs; they seemed to be three
to four feet long, and rose five to six feet above the surface of
the sea. Their leaping looked like an attempt at flying, but their
gills did not do them good service in the trial, and they fell back
immediately. The old fish did not seem to have the same elasticity;
they only described a small arch like the dolphins, and only rose so
far above the water that we could see the middle part of their body.
These fish are not caught; they have little oil, and an unpleasant
taste.
On the thirteenth day we again saw land. We had entered the
Skagerrak, and saw the peninsula of Jutland, with the town of
Skaggen. The peninsula looks very dreary from this side; it is flat
and covered with sand.
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