f bone firmly
fixed in the ground on each side. When I entered, I found to my
surprise that there was plenty of light, which was supplied from
windows, composed of small panes of whalebone ground down very thin, and
at the further end the head and skull of the animal formed a kitchen,
the smoke from the fire escaping through the spiracles or
breathing-holes above.

On each side of the room into which I was ushered were raised seats,
covered with seal skins, and the other end of the house was divided off
with a species of black skin, into sleeping apartments for the master of
the house and his family. There was not the least smell, as I
anticipated before I entered this strange dwelling-place.

I was introduced to his wife, who welcomed me with cordiality. She was
dressed in the same dark skin as her husband, but of a much finer
texture, and had a scarlet cap on her head, as well as scarlet trimmings
to the front and bottom of her dress, which on the whole was not only
comfortable but becoming in its appearance.

A bowl of milk was presented to me, to refresh me after my walk and long
abstinence.

"How!" observed I, "have you milk here without pasture?"

"Yes," replied my host, "drink it, and tell me if you think it
palatable."

I did so, and found it very little different from the asses' milk of my
own country--perhaps with a little more acidity of taste. In the mean
time several varieties of shellfish, and a large cheese, were placed
upon the table, which, as well as the stools, was composed entirely of
bone.

"And cheese, too?" said I.

"Yes, and you will find it not bad. It is the milk of the whale which
you have drank--and the cheese is prepared from the same."

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"Friend Huckaback," observed the pacha, "I think you are telling me
lies. Who ever heard of whale's milk?"

"Allah forbid that I should attempt to deceive a person of your
highness's judgment; it could only end in mortification and defeat to
myself."

"That's very true," observed the pacha.

"Your highness has not called to mind, that the whale is what
naturalists call a `hot-blood animal,' with arteries and circulation of
blood similar to the human species; and that it brings forth its young
alive, and nurses it at the breast."

"Very true," observed the pacha. "I had forgot that."

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