UNGOMFOBTABLT NEAR BEING THE LAST. 187 



therein, and produced such a succession of ugly corpses 

 of fowls as I had never seen before. To each man a 

 whole one was allotted, and we bore the steaming heca- 

 tomb into the forecastle. The boisterous merriment 

 became hushed at our approach, and faces grew lengthy 

 when the unwholesome aspect of the "treat" was 

 revealed. Each man secured his bird, and commenced 

 operations. But oh, the disappointment, and the bad 

 words ! What little flesh there was upon the framework 

 of those unhappy fowls was like leather itself, and 

 utterly flavourless. It could not well have been other- 

 wise. The feathers had been simply scalded off, the 

 heads chopped off, and bodies split open to facilitate 

 drawing (I am sure I wonder the cook took the trouble 

 to do that much), and thus prepared they were cast into 

 a cauldron of boiling salt water. There, with the water 

 fiercely bubbling, they were kept for an hour and a half, 

 then pitchforked out into the mess kid and set before 

 us. We simply could not eat them ; no one but a Noumean 

 Kanaka could, for his teeth are equal to husking a 

 cocoa-nut, or chopping off a piece of sugar-cane as thick 

 as your wrist. 



After much heated discussion, it was unanimously 

 resolved to protest at once against the substitution of 

 such a fraud as this poultry for our legitimate rations 

 of " salt horse." So, bearing the disjecta membra of our 

 meal, the whole crowd marched aft, and requested an 

 interview with the skipper. He came out of the cabin at 

 once, saying, " Well, boys, what's the matter ? " The 

 spokesman, a bald-headed Yankee, who had been bo'sun's 

 mate of an American man-of-war, stepped forward and 

 Baid, offering his kid, " Jest have a look at that, sir." 

 The skipper looked, saying, inquiringly, " Well ? " 



