162 
A VOYAGE TO SPITZBEEGEN. 
In whaling ships the men agree for a small stipu¬ 
lated sum per month, barely sufficient to purchase the 
requisite clothing for a voyage of the kind, trusting to 
find oil sufficient to create a fund by their share of 
half-a-crown per ton on the return to port. Therefore, 
each man has a special interest in the ship’s success; 
hence the zeal displayed by the crews when the hunting 
grounds of the whales are entered upon, and the look¬ 
out man is kept well to his- work by the ever-expectant 
crew, who are altogether dependent on his quickness 
of vision. 
The sailors said they had often noticed the strong 
resemblance to the head and face of a man in the roof of 
the right whale’s mouth, and we regretted not having 
examined for ourselves this very remarkable circum¬ 
stance. They were so confident in their statement 
we had no reasonable cause to doubt them; and as 
many tales, sayings, and opinions were in use amongst 
these worthy people which evidently had been ac¬ 
cepted as traditions which might easily be traced to a 
remote date if one had time for so curious a line of 
study, it would be well worth examining this strange 
conformation of the palate of the whale, to see how far 
the resemblance would warrant the foundation of a tale 
somewhat similar to that we read of the Prophet Jonah, 
for though the Scriptures state that Jonah was swal- 
