74 
CREW OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 
hump-back, and as this was not deemed worth 
catching, the boats returned to the ship. The life 
led by the whalers, as far as I was able to judge, 
from the short time I was with them, seemed to be 
one of regularity, but of considerable hardship, At 
half-past six or seven in the evening they invariably 
went to bed, but were up at the first dawn of day, 
and sometimes even before it, the boats were then 
usually sent to a distance from the ship to look out 
for whales, and whether fortunate or otherwise, they 
would always have a pretty hard day’s work before 
they returned. They were, however, well fed, being 
apparently even better dieted than the generality of 
merchant-ships ; the bread was of a better quality, 
and the allowance of butter, cheese, beans, and other 
little luxuries much more liberal. In the Missis- 
sippi the crew were generally young men, and with 
few exceptions all were complete novices at sea ; this 
I was told was in consequence of an expected war 
between England and France, and the prohibition of 
able seamen from leaving their country. Captain 
Rossiter assured me that he had not been allowed 
for a considerable length of time to sail at all from 
France, as the war was daily expected to break out. 
He was still ignorant as to what had been done in 
this respect, and naturally felt very anxious at 
being, as he might imagine, on an enemy’s coast. 
During the time I remained on board the vessel, 
a party of natives once or twice came down to the 
beach, and as I was anxious to enter into com mu™ 
