156 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



those of the lion and tiger are infantine and trivial. We 

 have had a slight foretaste of the exposure, privation, and 

 danger, in comparison with which other field-sports are 

 tame, safe, and effeminate. Name, if you can, another pur- 

 suit so courageous and grand ! 



Sept. 5. It is about three weeks since we took our last 

 whale, and we have had the greatest trial which attend the 

 whalemen. The dullness and tedium of life on board ship 

 at such quiet times is almost unendurable. The uninterrupt- 

 ed fine weather, the steady trade-wind, the daily routine of 

 make sail, man mast-heads, scrub decks ; breakfast, dinner, 

 supper ; shorten sail, boat's-crew watch, and " turn in," give 

 not a line for a journal. The men become morose and quar- 

 relsome ; we hate each other, and numerous scores are run 

 up, and appointments made to fight them out in the first 

 port we make. The violin fails to move, the song to enliven, 

 and the yarn to interest us. According to custom, and as a 

 diversion, a red flannel shirt has been offered as a prize to 

 him who may raise the first whale captured, and a pair of 

 duck trowsers have been added. Pounds of tobacco are 

 offered by the mate, but the days pass uninterestingly. A 

 bright gold doubloon is nailed to the mainmast, well out of 

 reach, but in sight of all, as another reward to good eyes. 

 Now there is more life at the mast-head. Not a white-cap 

 can show, a porpoise jump, or finback spout, but that the 

 alarm is given, inhope that it may lead to a capture, and so 

 obtain for the discoverer the pretty piece of gold glittering 

 on the white mast. In vain ! All the whales seem to have 

 gone to the bottom for a Rip Van Winkle nap. We all 

 know they can do this, though it is contrary to the books, 

 which tell us that they are warm-blooded mammals : even 

 this is not the worst names the learned have given them. 

 But whales are uneducated, don't take the papers, and 

 without thought of irregularity, stay down to suit their con- 



