830 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. XI. 
feats, the speed of their new boats, the strength of their 
crews, and the likelihood of a good season ; the doctor, 
generally the runaway surgeon of a whaling-ship, who 
gets fed and clothed by all the neighbouring stations, 
attends to the broken limbs ; and the little town gra- 
dually subsides into silence, now and then interrupted 
by the barking of a bull-dog from one of the huts, or 
the jibbering of a night-bird (called the titi porangi) 
as it flies across the bay. So passes the season ; except 
that while a whale is trying out, the operation goes on 
night and day ; alternate gangs, still commanded by 
their headsmen, being " on watch " at the try-works. 
This has been already described at Te-awa-iti. 
Should a stranger visit the settlement on his travels, 
he is met by a hearty welcome. The best of eating 
and drinking is placed before him ; the steward and 
the women are ordered to attend to him while the 
boats are away ; and the best bunk is prepared for him 
at night. For the information of those who do not 
know what a bunk is, I must explain that it is a bed- 
place built against the wall of a house or ship. They 
are commonly ranged in double tier, like those in the 
saloon of a Channel steamer. 
A whaler's house is generally built by the natives. 
It is either entirely composed of reeds and rushes woven 
over a wooden frame, — or else the walls consist of a 
wattled hurdle made of supple-jack (kareau) covered 
inside and out with clay, and the roof is thatched. A 
huge chimney nearly fills one end of the house ; — and 
generally swarms with natives, iron pots and kettles, 
favourite dogs, and joints of the whale's backbone, 
which serve as stools. A view of some fine hams, 
bacon, and fish, repays the exertion of peering through 
the wood-smoke up the chimney. Bunks with neat 
curtains line the greater part of the sides of the house. 
