364 NIMBOD OF THE SEA; OS, 



I present to you also an attempt to portray the dolphin, 

 an attempt to render graceful form and radiant colors in 

 lines of miserable white and black. The picture is the shad- 

 ow only of a creature so beautiful, that no art can convey to 

 you the reality as it basks in tropic seas, or sweeps in arch- 

 ing leap under a brilliant sun. To-day we took one on hook ; 

 it was nearly four feet in length, of much depth, but scarce- 

 ly thicker than my hand. It was pronounced unfit to eat, as 

 a piece of silver was tarnished by the flesh when cooking. 

 This test is applied to these fish whenever cooked, as in- 

 stances have occurred of crews being poisoned by them. A 

 belief prevails among seamen, by-the-bye, that all fish are ren- 

 dered poisonous by exposure to the moon's rays, and that 

 their flesh becomes phosphorescent in a short time when thus 

 exposed. The moonlight is said to have a still more malign 

 influence on man, and it is also asserted that to sleep with 

 the face exposed may cause a permanent distortion of the 

 features. No seaman, therefore, sees one of his mates sleep- 

 ing in the light of the queen of the night without kindly 

 kicking him in the ribs, or puUing him by the heels into the 

 shadow. A hard old salt was once observed to lay a mon- 

 key-jacket over the phiz of a bitter enemy, benevolently re- 

 marking as he did so, " I owe you a licking, you 'tarnal crit- 

 ter, when I git ashore, and I want to know you when I ketch 

 you." 



J^Q,n. 23. The sky is clear, with fresh winds. We are now 

 regularly cruising, with not enough to do to keep a man off 

 a growl. As this habit only cankers the soul, I prefer to 

 scrimshone. Odd minutes are now employed in the rigging 

 of a little brig. She is carved from a piece of the beautiful 

 California cedar, hollowed out neatly, and sheathed in.planks 

 of black whalebone, the port streak being of white bone from 

 the sperm-whale's jaw. The masts and spars are of the same 

 material. The blocks are of pearl-shell, carefully ground and 



