1 36 WHALING AND FISHING. 



we stood on, thus losing no ground by oai 

 enjoyment. 



Our first reception had seemed to us ccol. We 

 were languidly asked down into the forecastle 

 which smelt abominably of decayed roaches and 

 oil soap, and here seats were given us on the 

 chests. Once seated, all hands preserved a most 

 decorous silence for nearly ten minutes, when one 

 of the strangers at last ventured to ask how long 

 we were from home, and what was the latest 

 news. 



Being duly posted on this topic, they again 

 relapsed into silence, and I was beginning to think 

 that gamming was an unmitigated bore, when 1 

 was accosted by a tall fellow, whose patches, being 

 of colors a little different from those of his ship- 

 mates, had struck me from the first as not " native, 

 to the manor born." He asked me, with a doubt- 

 ing smile, whether I was not a merchant sailor. 

 An earnest "yes," produced a hearty shaking of 

 hands between us, and an immediate proposal on 

 his part to adjourn to the deck, where we could 

 talk matters over more at our leisure. 



Stowing ourselves snugly away on the topgal- 

 lant forecastle, we took such a turn at yarning as 

 probably neither of us had enjoyed for a long 

 time. He was a Scotchman, and had shipped as 

 carpenter of the vessel. This was his first whaling 

 voyage, and he expressed an opinion, which 1 

 very emphatically indorsed, that whaling was an 

 enormous, filthy humbug. 



