on the coaſt before; and at this time the hump-back whale was ſo much larger than generally believed, and ſpouted in a manner ſo different from their uſual mode of throwing up the water, that the moſt experienced fiſhermen I had on board believed them to be black whale, and purſued them as ſuch; and I very much doubt whether that ſpecies of whale, which the Spaniards call the ſmall whale, is any other than black fiſh. This opinion was confirmed by a whaler, with whom I fell in company ſome time after. He had come down the coaſt of California, and boaſted of the number of ſpermaceti whales which he had ſeen. I was very much aſtoniſhed that, provided as he was for the purpoſe, he had not even attempted to kill one of them. But he ſoon ſatisfied my doubts on the ſubject: for being with me on board the Rattler, and ſeeing a ſhoal of black fiſh, he inſiſted that they were ſpermaceti whales. While I thus diſcovered his ignorance, I had reaſon to be ſatisfied with myſelf, in having been able to aſcertain, from the deck of my ſhip, the difference between theſe two ſpecies of whale, but this I muſt acknowledge, that black fiſh, in their feeding and mode of ſpouting, reſemble the ſpermaceti whale nearer than any other fiſh hitherto known.
