862 WHALING-CRAFT ON WEST COAST OF AFRICA. 



whaling-vessels. These crafts are usually small, and 

 carry but two or three boats. By the class who go 

 farther from home, they are facetiously denominated 

 Plumpuddingers. The length of the voyage ranges 

 from six to thirty months. From the specimens of 

 these cruisers, I should say, that there is little differ- 

 ence in their arrangements and those of the whalemen 

 of the Indian and Pacific oceans. One characteristic 

 was, however, distinctive; that is, the greater pro- 

 portion of foreigners before the mast. In one vessel 

 (the Cornelia of Edgartown) there was not a single 

 individual of American birth in her forecastle ; and 

 on board the Keoka, of Westport, there w^as a large 

 proportion of dark skins from the islands of the 

 North Pacific. Their voyages are shorter, their crews 

 generally fare better than those of the larger ships, 

 and, as was my impression up to the time we fell in 

 with them, they made better ports — but this, upon 

 inquiry, I found to be a mistaken idea ; for those on 

 board the Keoka stated that they had not been into 

 a port where English was spoken during the whole 

 time (some eighteen months) they w^ere from home ; 

 and, furthermore, that they had only visited Wal- 

 fisch Bay, a Portuguese settlement on the coast. 



These vessels averaged about the same amount of 

 oil, considering their time out, as other ships of their 

 profession in the Indian Ocean. Their crews were, 

 also, just as much discontented with whaling, and 

 as anxious to get home, as we were. In unqualified 

 terms they expressed their envy of us lucky fellows, 

 as they termed us, who they supposed would in a 

 few months be in New Bedford. Our diminutive 

 cargo did not seem to act as a damper upon their 



