es, cut it into smaller pieces, and stowed it away. Then
another piece was hoisted on board in the same fashion, and so on we
went till every bit of blubber was cut off; and I heard the captain
remark to the mate when the work was done, that the fish was a good fat
one, and he wouldn't wonder if it turned out to be worth 300 pounds
sterling.

Now, when this process was going on, a new point of interest arose which
I had not thought of before, although my messmate, Tom Lokins, had often
spoken of it on the voyage out. This was the arrival of great numbers
of sea-birds.

Tom had often told me of the birds that always keep company with
whalers; but I had forgotten all about it, until I saw an enormous
albatross come sailing majestically through the air towards us. This
was the largest bird I ever saw, and no wonder, for it is the largest
bird that flies. Soon after that, another arrived, and although we were
more than a thousand miles from any shore, we were speedily scented out
and surrounded by hosts of gonies, stinkards, haglets, gulls, pigeons,
petrels, and other sea-birds, which commenced to feed on pieces of the
whale's carcass with the most savage gluttony. These birds were
dreadfully greedy. They had stuffed themselves so full in the course of
a short time, that they flew heavily and with great difficulty. No
doubt they would have to take three or four days to digest that meal!

Sharks, too, came to get their share of what was going. But these
savage monsters did not content themselves with what was thrown away;
they were so bold as to come before our faces and take bites out of the
whale's body. Some of these sharks were eight and nine feet long, and
when I saw them open their horrid jaws, armed with three rows of
glistening white sharp teeth, I could well understand how easily they
could bite off the leg of a man, as they often do when they get the
chance. Sometimes they would come right up on the whale's body with a
wave, bite out great pieces of the flesh, turn over on their bellies,
and roll off.

While I was looking over the side during the early part of that day, I
saw a very large shark come rolling up in this way close to Tom Lokins'
legs. Tom made a cut at him with his blubber-spade, but the shark
rolled off in time to escape the blow. And after all it would not have
done him much damage, for it is not easy to frighten or take the life
out of a shark.

"Hand me an iron and line, Bob," sa