52 WHALING AND FISHING. 



the captain's table, that worthy having taken pitj 

 on the poor fellow's deranged stomach and simple 

 mind, 



.Multitudes of such practical jokes are pfayed 

 off upon the uninitiated, and many a hearty lau b f h 

 ai their expense enlivens the first part of a whale- 

 ship's cruise. Their faith is boundless, and there 

 is scarcely anything too- absurd or impossible for 

 some of the more ignorant. Singularly enough, 

 the young man who asked the captain to broacn 

 a cask of pies for his benefit, subsequently be- 

 came one of the smartest of our hands. 



There is nothing the inexperienced on board find 

 it so difficult to grow accustomed to as the differ- 

 ence in rank, and consequent difference in physi- 

 cal comforts, which prevail on ship board. Why 

 the captain and his three mates should have note 

 space allotted to them, than twenty sailors, or 

 foremast hands ; or upon what principle of right 

 or justice the officers shall dine upon delicacies, 

 while foremast Jack soaks his hard biscuit in a 

 lecoction of oak leaves, sweetened with molasses, 

 which goes by the name of tea; or how, under a 

 republican flag, the captain can order them off 

 ihe quarter deck, the pleasantest portion of the 

 vr.asel, and point to the wretched hole forward 

 )f the windlass, as their appropriate " sphere " all 

 this, and much else, the unsophisticated country- 

 man, brought up in the belief that " one man is as 

 good as another," can never properly understand, 

 although he is obliged to submit. 



