THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 321 



day, and we are left in an open roadstead, exposed to the 

 wind and sea. In the afternoon, on throwing the offal of a 

 goat overboard, it attracted several large sharks about the 

 ship, and under the persuasive influence of a harpoon we 

 enticed one of them to the deck. It measured fourteen 

 feet ten inches. Soon after, the Howlin, of Nantucket, 

 Captain Worth, anchored near us; six months out, with 

 three hundred barrels of oil. The captain had a disturb- 

 ance on his ship, and was obliged to put into Payta in dis- 

 tress. 



April 26. For twenty days we have been moored in this 

 pleasant resting-place. It is not for me to shed ink in the 

 descriptions of towns, or to travel on roads made dusty by 

 previous travelers. For descriptions of the city of Hono- 

 lulu and its surroundings, I refer to almost any modern 

 book of travel on the Pacific, and to the records of mission- 

 ary enterprise in the Islands. Commodore Wilkes, for 

 instance, is very interesting in his description of this, 

 place, and of the manners and customs of its remarkable 

 people. 



We have been busily refitting ship for the long cruise to 

 Japan which lies before us. On alternate days the watch- 

 ers have had liberty on shore, but much of the time has 

 hung wearily on my hands. Except the reading-room pro- 

 vided by the Seaman's Friend' Society, there is no resort 

 inviting to the sailor who is not attracted by the sensual 

 indulgences which are usually prepared for him. Mr. Deil, 

 the seamen's chaplain, has been active, however, in making 

 the better ways of life attractive to our poor fellows, and 

 we are all indebted to him for moments of rational enjoy- 

 ment. At this season of the congregation of the whaling- 

 fleets on the passage to Japan, Honolulu is very dissipated. 

 In spite of the strenuous efforts of the Government to dis- 

 courage the traffic in spirits, much drunkenness prevails, 



14* 



