Immense whales were a very terrible, and by no means uncommon sight to
us on the ocean, though they never approached the ship. On the desert
shores of Brazil we thought we perceived a pirate ship. Fearing some
mischance we called for the captain, who from the top of the mast by the
help of a telescope discovered it to be an enormous whale. This immense
animal, as it tossed itself about on the waves, presented the appearance
of a ship. A projecting fin, which is said to be sometimes fifty feet
high, had been taken for a mast. From the horrid pipe, or fistula of his
head, as from a great fire-engine, he spouted up a vast quantity of
water, which, when dispersed by the wind, and shone upon by the rays of
the sun, looked white like the sails of a ship. In returning to Europe
we observed the water leaping up and breaking itself in an unusual
manner, not far from the ship. Imagining that rocks or shoals must be at
hand, the captain ordered the prow of the ship to be turned in another
direction. But an intolerable stench relieved our minds by discovering
the putrid carcass of a very large whale, against which the waters had
been dashed. Whales perish in the same way as ships, and die by degrees
from being knocked against quicksands and shoals. We sometimes, however,
see the carcasses of whales cast on to the shore by the tide. I have
spoken elsewhere of melotas, enormous fish, innumerable shoals of which
we met during some weeks in the month of November. From the water let us
now proceed to the woods and plains of Paraguay, which abound in so many
curious plants and trees.