208 TEE CRUISE OF TEE " CACEALOT:' 



missionary efforts might long ago have ceased in utter 

 despair at the fruitlessness of the field. 



We were enjoying a most uneventful passage, free 

 from any serious changes either of wind or weather, 

 which quiet time was utilized to the utmost in making 

 many much-needed additions to running gear, repair- 

 ing rigging, etc. Any work involving the use of new 

 material had been put off from time to time during the 

 previous part of the voyage till the ship aloft was really 

 in a dangerous condition. This was due entirely to 

 the peculiar parsimony of our late skipper, who could 

 scarcely bring himself to broach a coil of rope, except 

 for whaling purposes. The same false economy had 

 prevailed with regard to paint and varnish, so that 

 the vessel, while spotlessly clean, presented a worn- 

 out, weather-beaten appearance. Now, while the con- 

 dition of life on board was totally different to what it 

 had been, as regards comfort and peace, discipline and 

 order were maintained at the same high level as always, 

 though by a different method — in fact, I believe that a 

 great deal more work was actually done, certainly much 

 more that was useful and productive ; for Captain 

 Count hated, as much as any foremast hand among us, 

 the constant, remorseless grind of iron-work polishing, 

 paint-work scrubbing, and holystoning, all of which, 

 though necessary in a certain degree, when kept up 

 continually for the sole purpose of making work — a sort 

 of elaborated tread-mill, in fact — becomes the refinement 

 of cruelty to underfed, unpaid, and hopeless men. 



So, while the Cachalot could have fearlessly challenged 

 comparison with any ship afloat for cleanliness and 

 neatness of appearance, the hands no longer felt that 

 they were continually being " worked up" or "hazed" 



