propensities.

Three or four do not hesitate to grapple the largest baleen whales, who
become paralysed with terror--frequently evince no efforts to escape.

Instances have occurred where a band of orcas laid siege to whales
in tow, and although frequently lanced and cut with boat spades,
made away with their prey.

Inclined to believe it rarely attacks larger cetaceans.

Possessed of great swiftness.

Sometimes seen peering above the surface with a seal in their bristling
jaws, shaking and crushing their victims and swallowing them apparently
with gusto.

Tear white whales into pieces.


Ponting has been ravished yesterday by a view of the ship seen from a
big cave in an iceberg, and wished to get pictures of it. He succeeded
in getting some splendid plates. This fore-noon I went to the iceberg
with him and agreed that I had rarely seen anything more beautiful
than this cave. It was really a sort of crevasse in a tilted berg
parallel to the original surface; the strata on either side had bent
outwards; through the back the sky could be seen through a screen
of beautiful icicles--it looked a royal purple, whether by contrast
with the blue of the cavern or whether from optical illusion I do
not know. Through the larger entrance could be seen, also partly