THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 



strove to show to him that society was in no small degree 

 answerable for Jack's faults, and I pointedly inquired wheth- 

 er he had of his abundance spared for the enlargement of the 

 field of usefulness of Mr. Deil. I also told him plainly that, 

 besides the -reading-room, there was not a decent roof on the 

 shores of the broad Pacific where the sailor could lay his 

 head. Before his boat arrived, he thawed to the extent of 

 offering to supply us with reading matter of a profitable 

 form. The next day I went on board his vessel and received 

 a number of books ; but I fear much they were not peculiarly 

 adapted to the wants of our boys. 



On inquiring for the men who were thrown into the fort 

 three months ago, we learned that the sloop-of-war Peacock 

 had released them after about six weeks' detention, Captain 

 Kennedy holding that they were improperly confined. Such 

 as claimed protection as American citizens were taken on 

 board the Peacock the remainder shipped on other vessels. 

 I may anticipate here, for the sake of sequence, that many 

 months after this date we met the men on board the Peacock, 

 in the port of Callao, and it seemed that there had been much 

 trouble on account of the manner of their trial. We under- 

 stood that Captain Kennedy held that our captain was liable 

 for false imprisonment, and that subsequently the men recov- 

 ered wages in the courts of the United States. Mention of 

 this is made as evidence that the legal adviser of the men in 

 our mutiny kept them clearly within the law. 



We bade adieu to Honolulu with little regret, our oppor- 

 tunities for enjoyment having been extremely limited, and 

 we received orders to heave the anchor for an eight months' 

 cruise' with satisfaction. On the morning of the 26th of 

 April we weighed anchor, and stood along the shore three 

 miles outside of the coral reef. We were accompanied by 

 some twenty men and women, relatives of our Kanaka sail- 

 ors. They staid on board until afternoon, when, with much 



