A VISIT TO SOME STRANGE PLAGES. 109 



toilers. By nightfall the whole of our catch wag on 

 board, excepting such toll as the hungry hordes of 

 sharks had levied upon it in transit. A goodly number 

 of them had paid the penalty of their rapacity with 

 their lives, for often one would wriggle his way right 

 up on to the reeking carcass, and, seizing a huge frag- 

 ment of blubber, strive with might and main to tear 

 it away. Then the lethal spade would drop upon his 

 soft crown, cleaving it to the jaws, and with one flap 

 of his big tail he would loose his grip, roll over and 

 over, and sink, surrounded by a writhing crowd of 

 his fellows, by whom he was speedily reduced into 

 digestible fragments. 



The condition of the Gachalofs deck was now some- 

 what akin to chaos. From the cabin door to the try- 

 works there was hardly an inch of available space, and 

 the oozing oil kept some of us continually baling it up, 

 lest it should leak out through the interstices in the 

 bulwarks. In order to avoid a breakdown, it became 

 necessary to divide the crew into six-hour watches, as, 

 although the work was exceedingly urgent on account 

 of the weather, there were evident signs that some of 

 the crew were perilously near giving in. So we got 

 rest none too soon, and the good effects of it were soon 

 apparent. The work went on with much more celerity 

 than one would have thought possible, and soon the 

 lumbered-up decks began to resume their normal 

 appearance. 



As if to exasperate the ** old man " beyond measure, 



on the third day of our operations a great school of 



sperm whales appeared, disporting all around the ship, 



apparently conscious of our helplessness to interfere 



with them. Notwithstanding our extraordinary haul, 

 9 



