VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEAS.
79
with the whales, though they were running faſt to the Southward, and appeared to be larger than any that had been ſeen by thoſe in purſuit of them. There being light airs, and calms alternately, the ſhip followed but ſlowly: the fiſhers ſtruck ſeveral whales, but were not ſo fortunate as to kill any of them.
The people in the boats, had now been away ſeveral hours, and were ſo far diſtant, that the ſhips top-ſails, to them, were in the horizon; the day alſo was far advanced, and purſuing the whales, in the direction they were running, would be ſtill increaſing their diſtance, without flattering hope, of ſaving the fiſh, if they killed them; ſeveral water-ſpouts were viſible in the horizon, accompanied by diſtant thunder and lightning, with a threatening ſky; all theſe circumſtances combined, obliged them, for ſelf-preſervation, reluctantly to give up the chace, and by the time they reached the ſhip, from the vaſt quantity of water they had drank, and the exceſſive heat of the weather, (which was in no ſmall degree increaſed by the fatigue undergone, and diſappointment occaſioned by their fruitleſs exertions) the whole of my crew were ſeized with a ſevere ſickneſs, and one of them was ſo cramped, that he would certainly have expired, if he had not almoſt inſtantly, on his return, been immerſed in warm water. Another broke out in a violent raſh from head to foot, which, by his plunging