THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 337 



remove. But one becomes philosophic at sea in matters of 

 food. When butter has twice crossed the line, and has 

 reached the age of two years, no stomach can accept it as 

 butter ; but as cheese, it seems quite mild. About this time 

 the epicures on board hesitate to bite the ship-bread in the 

 dark, and the custom is to tap each piece on the table as 

 you break it off, to dislodge the large worms which breed 

 in it. 



To commemorate the day, we killed the old sow which 

 we brought from America, and as sea-pie she came to a 

 natural conclusion. But her death brought good luck ; for 

 in the evening the ship was surrounded by swarming shoals 

 of albicore, the first we had seen since leaving the Islands. 

 From, this indication we look with confidence for sperm- 

 whale. 



A peculiarity of the waters that we are now in is that in 

 the night the fish have a lambent, greenish flame, without 

 the usual phosphorescent trail. As thousands of them dart 

 about, their forms are sharply defined in light. We are 

 puzzled to account for this, as there is no light from above 

 to be reflected from their bodies, and the cresting foam of 

 the waves does not indicate a phosphorescent condition. 



June 12 {Sunday). This morning we observed quantities 

 of broken squid floating about the ship — the best sign possi- 

 ble, as they are evidently the remains of some sperm-whale's 

 feast. And hurra! there they are! Sperm-whale off the 

 weather beam, six miles away, coming to leeward. At about 

 4 P.M. we lowered three boats. The mate soon fastened ; 

 but the whale behaved ugly, and the captain lowered his 

 boat, and assisted in killing the brute. Thence we ran down 

 to aid the waist-boat, away to leeward, in securing a whale 

 it had caught. We were in the midst of a great school of 

 seventy-barrel bulls ; and they were so tame that we might 

 have taken as many as we needed, but darkness was fast 



