dooks.
Only the haristocracy at 'ome get a charnce to stick their teeth in
such grub as that. An' 'ere are you lot a-growlin' at 'avin' it for a
change!" "That's all right, cap'n," said the man; "bein' brort up ter
such lugsuries, of corse you kin appreshyate it. So if yer keep it fer
yer own eatin', an' giv us wot we signed for, we shall be werry much
obliged." "Now, I ain't a-goin' to 'ave none o' YOUR cheek, so you'd
better git forrard. You can betcher life you won't get no more fresh
messes this voy'ge." So, with grumbling and ill-will on both sides, the
conference came to an end. But I thought, and still think, that the
mess set before those men, who had been working hard since six a.m., was
unfit for the food of a good dog.

Out of my own experience I might give many other instances of the kind,
but I hope these will suffice to show that Jack's growling is often
justified, when both sides of the story are heard.

CHAPTER XVI. "BOWHEAD" FISHING

Day and night being now only distinguishable by the aid of the clock,
a constant look-out aloft was kept all through the twenty-four hours,
watch and watch, but whales were apparently very scarce. We did a good
deal of "pelagic" sealing; that is, catching seals swimming. But the
total number obtained was not great, for these creatures are only
gregarious when at their rocky haunts during the breeding season, or
among the ice just before that season begins. Our sealing, therefore,
was only a way of passing the time in the absence of nobler game, to be
abandoned at once with whales in sight.

It was on the ninth or tenth morning after our arrival on the grounds
that a bowhead was raised, And two boats sent after him. It was my
first sight of the great MYSTICETUS, and I must confess to being much
impressed by his gigantic bulk. From the difference in shape, he looked
much larger than the largest sperm whale we had yet seen, although we
had come across some of the very biggest specimens of cachalot.

The contrast between the two animals is most marked, so much so, in
fact, that one would hardly credit them with belonging to the same
order. Popular ideas of the whale are almost invariably taken from the
MYSTICETUS, so that the average individual generally defines a whale
as a big fish which spouts water out of the top of his head, and cannot
swallow a herring. Indeed, so lately as last year a popular M.P.,
writing to one of the religious papers, allowed himself to s