His CAPTORS. 203 



The Pickle a Whaleman most loves to have his Ship in. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



PECULIAR VOCABULARY AND HAZARDS OF WHALE- 

 MEN. 



A perilous life, and hard as life may be, 



Hath the brave whaleman on the lonely sea ; 



On the wide water laboring, far from home, 



For a bleak pittance still compelled to roam ; 



Few friends to cheer him through his dangerous life, 



Or strong to aid him in the stormy strife ; 



Companion of the Sea and silent air, 



The hardy whaleman has no envied fare. Anon. 



Midway between the False and Mam Banks, Atlantic Ocean, 

 lat. 34 30' S., Ion. 47 W. Homeward Bound. 



T LIKE the eagerness and activity, and can 

 -*- very well put up with the smell and dirt 

 which having dead whales alongside makes in a 

 whale ship. We are having enough of it just 

 now. Though not myself head and ears over in 

 blubber-juice like all the rest, nor in for any 

 share of the profits, I am taking, perhaps, as cu- 

 rious and eager an interest in the process going 

 on as any one on board. All the ordinary muxing 

 and skimshander with which active ones keep 

 themselves busy on board whale ships when 



