EARNINGS AND THE LAY 243 



keeping up the supply of man-power the agents were aided and 

 abetted, too, by the few bonanza voyages whose profitable lays 

 served to obscure the low figure for average earnings. Still 

 further succor came from the Cape Verde Portuguese and from 

 the South Sea Islanders, who regarded even a lay of ^^00 as a 

 princely sum, and who crowded into the forecastles in increas- 

 ing numbers. 



The quantity of hands, then, was kept up in spite of the 

 low earnings J but the quality deteriorated woefully. More 

 and more the best young men of New England heeded Horace 

 Greeley^s advice and went West j and their places in the whal- 

 ing forecastles were taken by Portuguese half-breeds, by Kan- 

 akas, by convicts and criminals, and by human scourings gath- 

 ered from all parts of the world. 



