go, making the
undisciplined hearts of all to whom whaling was a novel employment beat
high with hopes of a speedy completion of the cargo, and consequent
return. Poor innocents that we were! How could we know any better?
According to Goliath, with whom I often had a friendly chat, this was
quite out of the ordinary run to have such luck in the "Channel."

"'Way back in de dark ages, w'en de whaleships war de pi'neers
ob commerce, 'n day wan't no worryin', poofity-plukity steamboats
a-poundin' along, 'nough ter galley ebery whale clean eout ob dere skin,
dey war plenty whaleships fill up in twelve, fifteen, twenty monf' after
leabin' home. 'N er man bed his pick er places, too--didn' hab ter go
moseyin erroun' like some ol' hobo lookin' fer day's work, 'n prayin'
de good Lord not ter let um fine it. No, sah; roun yer China Sea, coas'
Japan, on de line, off shore, Vasquez, 'mong de islan's, ohmos' anywhar,
you couldn' hardly git way from 'em. Neow, I clar ter glory I kaint
imagine WAR dey all gone ter, dough we bin eout only six seven monf' 'n
got over tousan bar'l below. But I bin two year on er voy'ge and
doan hardly SEE a sparm while, much less catch one. But"--and here he
whispered mysteriously--"dish yer ole man's de bery debbil's own chile,
'n his farder lookin' after him well--dat's my 'pinion. Only yew keep
yer head tight shut, an' nebber say er word, but keep er lookin', 'n
sure's death you'll see." This conversation made a deep and lasting
impression upon me, for I had not before heard even so much as a
murmur from an officer against the tyranny of the skipper. Some of the
harpooners were fluent enough, too.

Yet I had often thought that his treatment of them, considering the
strenuous nature of their toil, and the willingness with which they
worked as long as they had an ounce of energy left, was worth at least a
little kindness and courtesy on his part.

What the period may have been during which whales were plentiful here,
I do not know, but it was now May, and for the last few days we had not
seen a solitary spout of any kind. Preparations, very slight it is
true, were made for departure; but before we left those parts we made
an interesting call for water at Mohilla, one of the Comoro group,
which brought out, in unmistakable fashion, the wonderful fund of local
knowledge possessed by these men. At the larger ports of Johanna and
Mayotte there is a regular tariff of port charges, which are somewhat
heav