126 WHALING AND BEAR-HUNTING 



a small profit to cover risks and good articles. I've seen 

 fifty per cent, made off very inferior goods. And the crew 

 come down one by one and buy what they need or can 

 afford, and " ask me " if the atmosphere doesn't get thick 

 towards lamplight time. 



There was not much sale in the way of winter kit. The 

 heaps of mits and thick woollen socks will not be appreci- 

 ated till St Ebba gets far south towards the ice edge. 



With our present crew of Norsemen it is not so easy to get 

 interested in them, individually, as with sailors of our own 

 race ; still the few words we have of each other's language, 

 eked out with signs and drawings, go far drawings especi- 

 ally ; indeed, from the captain downwards, painting excites 

 far more intelligent interest among our crowd than they 

 would with my own countrymen. Our old Dundonian 

 whalers were neither very musical nor artistic. Here the 

 skipper plays Grieg, and has a lively interest in every aesthetic 

 aspect and every change of form and colour in waves and 

 sky, and has actually taken up water-colours and playing on 

 my bagpipe practice chanter, but I fear that for neither of 

 these will he be able to spare time, for a skipper is, or should 

 be, practically on duty all the time. But his first attempt at 

 water-colours a blue sea and white breakers under a blue 

 sky was not half bad. The blue sea was there all right, but 

 the rhythm of the waves and the half tints, who can do them 

 justice ? Wyllie, to a certain extent, but I cannot remember 

 anyone else, unless Colin Hunter, and he is dead. 



It is a real day of rest, contemplation and dreaming. 

 Our greatest effort has been to rig a line for dolphins. Both 

 the trolling tackles we had out were carried away last night, 

 so I unearthed a tunny hook I had fastened to a wire rope 

 with a strip of aluminium to act as spoon bait. Now that is 

 trolling astern for the benefit of any wandering albicore, 

 tunny, bonita dolphin or such-like. I expect the crack of 

 the breaking fir stem boom, from which the line trails, will 

 wake us from our dreams. 



You may dream on board a whaler ! dream at the wheel on 

 such a day as this, or in the crow's nest, or sitting on one of 

 the boats, for you are so cut off from the world of people 



