64 WHALING AND FISHING. 



It must not be supposed, however, that to famil 

 iarize themselves with the ropes and practice 

 running aloft were the only employments of the 

 hands. On the second day after leaving port, the 

 regular routine of labor of an outward bound 

 whaleman was begun. All hands were kept at 

 work, hard and incessantly, for the first five 

 months, preparing the vessel for the whaling 

 ground. It is a rule in the whaling service to have 

 no work of any kind, other than is absolutely 

 necessary, going on while the vessel is upon the 

 whaling ground. All is therefore prepared before- 

 hand, on the outward passage. 



With us the entire rigging was overhauled and 

 refitted; the hold in part restowed; boats fitted with 

 all the conveniences which experience has taught 

 the whaleman to provide; irons and lances sharp- 

 ened and set in their handles, lines stretched and 

 coiled down ; line tubs nicely fitted ; lance and iron 

 sheaths carved or put together, mats for rowlocks 

 made, and all the thousand other small matters 

 attended to, which go to make up the outfit of a 

 whaleship and her boats. These labors employed 

 the crew from daylight till dark, six days in the 

 week, and right glad were we when the tall Peak 

 of Pico hove in sight, and amid the excitement of 

 nearing the land, the severe and constant drudg- 

 ery of refitting was for a few days laid aside. 



By this time we had a three weeks passage 

 thither our green hands were, in their own estima- 



