INTHEBOATS. 63 



selves with, before they would be even whalemen 

 and what old salt does not know that there is 

 as much difference between a whaleman and a 

 true sailor, as there is between a child's tin trum- 

 pet and the bugle which calls to battle. 



To tell the truth, I, in virtue of being a real, 

 genuine tar, despised these fellows from the bottom 

 of my heart; and it must be owned, they hated 

 me with a fervor which was only equaled by its 

 powerlessness. 



But to return to my story. We were three days 

 out from Fayal, and had by the aid of a favorable 

 breeze, left the lofty Peak of Pico many miles be- 

 hind us, when coming upon, deck one morning, we 

 found a dead calm, a tolerably smooth sea, and a 

 thin hazy atmosphere, which, to the old whalemen 

 aft, looked like whaling ground. Shortly after 

 breakfast word was passed to man the boats, to 

 take some practice in pulling and maneuvering, 

 in order that our crew might not be entirely un- 

 prepared, should we be so fortunate as to fall in 

 with whales. 



The various boats-crews had been chosen when 

 we were but a few days out at sea, and each indi- 

 vidual had received some general instructions as 

 to his particular duties. 



And here it will be as well to initiate the reader 

 into the manner in which a boat's crew is divided, 

 and what is each one's duty. Each boat is manned 

 by six hands in all; of these the officer or boat-header 

 as he is styled, and the boatsteerer, or harpooneers- 



