THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 279 



tailed one, to hide an egg in the tar-pot, under the eye of the 

 interested watcher. At the first opportunity the little brute 

 would abstract the prize and run aloft with it. Of course, 

 by the time he had eaten it he was in a pitchy mess ; and as 

 the tar dried in the air, his long slender fingers adhered to 

 the rigging, and his matted hair stood on end like quills on 

 the fretful porcupine. The only cure was to dip him in oil 

 to soften the tar, and allow his miserable monkeyship to 

 gradually recover his original shape and appearance. 



