Furious smoke-signals were at once sent up to summon all the tribes in the surrounding country--enemies as well as friends.

Next day the carcasses were washed farther still inshore--a thing for which the blacks gave me additional credit.
I ought to mention here that the loss of my boat was in some measure compensated for by the enormous amount of prestige which accrued to me through this whale episode.

To cut a long story short, the natives fully believed that _I had killed single-handed and brought ashore both whales_! And in the _corroborees_ that ensued, the poets almost went delirious in trying to find suitable eulogiums to bestow upon the mighty white hunter.

The mother whale surpassed in size any I had ever seen or read about.

I measured her length by pacing, and I judged it to be nearly 150 feet.