284 HISTORY AND DETAILS OF WHALING. 



all. It was poor and cheap, and the buyer of the article prob- 

 ably knew it ; it being for whalemen, and outfits justified the 

 purchase. 2. In the loose and imperfect manner in which sea- 

 men's garments are put together. This is not true of all. The 

 price paid for making is the minimum, or starving price ; and 

 therefore the garments are made accordingly. There are two 

 losers by this arrangement, and one winner. The maker and 

 buyer are the losers, while the profit passes into the hands of 

 the seller. 3. In the exorbitant charges which are sometimes 

 made for articles of clothing in the bill of outfit. Some astound- 

 ing facts might be mentioned illustrating this point ; but we let 

 them pass, hoping they will never be reonacted again. Be- 

 sides, instances have been known, in which there was a sad 

 discrepancy between the seaman's bill of clothing, and the 

 number of articles actually found in his chest, when he first 

 examined it, after the ship was got under weigh, and bound out 

 to sea. 



It is when whalemen are beyond our coast, and around the 

 Horn, and their outfits have been put to some service, they find 

 that the winds, storms, and exposures have made sad havoc 

 of their supposed sound and reliable chest of clothing. The 

 fact that they are not present, but absent, and will be for 

 months and years, and therefore unable to speak for themselves, 

 face to face, to those by whom they have been sold, poorly and 

 wretchedly justifies frauds, which may not be heard from for 

 months, and perhaps for years. Time, however, stereotypes, 

 instead of obliterating, a wrong. And still further, extrava- 

 gant and unreasonable inducements and promises held out to 

 influence thoughtless youth to engage in the business of whal- 

 ing, are connected with the evils which have grown out of the 

 system of outfitting, and of which whalemen and others have 

 justly complained. These evils, however, if they now exist, 

 could be measurably removed, if agents of the respective ships 

 would carefully examine the bill of clothing which each sea- 

 man brings from the outfitter, article by article, contained in 



