234 WHALING AND FISHING. 



fish are the principal food of the natives, who 

 build their huts under the shade of a pleasant 

 grove, and, to use an expression of our black 

 sook, " have Sunday every day in the week." 



No sooner were we in port than plans without 

 number were formed and discussed in the forecas* 

 tie, by those who had grown dissatisfied with :he 

 ship or the business she was engaged in, aud 

 therefore desired to leave or to state it in blunl 

 English, to desert. Of our entire crew, leaving 

 out of consideration the boatsteerers and officers 

 whose interests were of course identified with the 

 vessel, none but one Portuguese and the black 

 cook really cared to stay. Each of the others had 

 a plan for making good his own escape ; and at a 

 distance, while we were yet at sea, each of these 

 plans looked feasible enough. 



Some thought to take one of the ship's boats, 

 and go in her to some of the other islands, 

 where, setting the boat adrift, they would conceal 

 themselves till the ship was necessitated to leave 

 those waters. Some thought to procure a passage 

 to a neighboring island in a small coasting pin- 

 nace. Others yet were convinced that they would 

 be able to subsist in the mountain region of Mane*, 

 and render all search for them futile. 



Once in port, and with the land staring them in 

 the face, several lost heart altogether, and aban- 

 doned further thought of an undertaking in which 

 they would have, without means, to cast them- 

 selves among strangers, most of whom could not 



