r,
which was still somewhat swollen, and had just landed when we caught
sight of several natives rushing on with headlong speed towards the
whale, having apparently come from the interior. We drew back, and
concealed ourselves behind the trees; and they, evidently from having
their eyes fixed on the whale, had not seen us. The country towards the
west was open, and as I turned my glass in that direction I observed a
still greater number running on as fast as their legs could carry them.
The sound of their wild shouts and shrieks, as they clapped their hands
and kicked up their legs with delight, reached our ears. On they came.

We had no notion that anything like the number of natives we saw existed
in the neighbourhood. How, indeed, they came to discover that the
creature, to them so great a prize, had been cast on shore, it was
difficult to say--unless, like the birds of prey, they had scented it
from afar. Over the hills they came, some appearing at the entrance of
a valley, others making their way along the shore. Already we saw that
some had arrived; and through my glass I recognised our friend Pullingo
as the principal figure by the feather at the top of his head, the
bundle of lances in one hand, and an axe which we had given him in the
other. Some of the natives carried huge drums, which they beat with
might and main, forming the bass to their shrill shrieks. All seemed so
eager to reach the scene of action, that even had we been much nearer we
ran little risk of being discovered.

On they came in troops, till nearly two hundred must have been
collected; then joining hands, they formed a large circle round the
whale, while Pullingo mounted along the tail to the top of it, where he
stood flourishing his axe, and apparently making a speech to the
assembled multitude. Its tenor we should not have understood, even had
we heard his words distinctly; but it was replied to by the shouts and
cries of the people below: then the drums set up a thundering rattle,
and the blacks reiterating their shrieks and cries, men, women, and
children began to dance round and round, throwing themselves into the
wildest and most extravagant postures, all trying to vie one with the
other who could leap, and kick, and twist their bodies and arms about in
the most grotesque fashion. Whether it was simply to show their joy, or
was some religious ceremony, we could not determine.

The dance, if so it could be called, continued fo