dly
dealing with a catch, is not made use of, the art and mystery of the
whale-fisher must continually decrease. No such valuable lubricant has
ever been found as sperm oil; but the cost of its production, added to
the precarious nature of the supply, so handicaps it in the competition
with substitutes that it has been practically eliminated from the
English markets, except in such greatly adulterated forms as to render
it a lie to speak of the mixture as sperm oil at all.

Except to a few whose minds to them are kingdoms, and others who
can hardly be said to have any minds at all, the long monotony of
unsuccessful seeking for whales is very wearying. The ceaseless motion
of the vessel rocking at the centre of a circular space of blue, with a
perfectly symmetrical dome of azure enclosing her above, unflecked by
a single cloud, becomes at last almost unbearable from its changeless
sameness of environment. Were it not for the trivial round and common
task of everyday ship duty, some of the crew must become idiotic, or, in
sheer rage at the want of interest in their lives, commit mutiny.

Such a weary time was ours for full four weeks after sighting Christmas
Island. The fine haul we had obtained just previous to that day seemed
to have exhausted our luck for the time being, for never a spout did we
see. And it was with no ordinary delight that we hailed the advent of
an immense school of black-fish, the first we had run across for a long
time. Determined to have a big catch, if possible, we lowered all five
boats, as it was a beautifully calm day, and the ship might almost
safely have been left to look after herself. After what we had recently
been accustomed to, the game seemed trifling to get up much excitement
over; but still, for a good day's sport, commend me to a few lively
black-fish.

In less than ten minutes we were in the thick of the crowd, with
harpoons flying right and left. Such a scene of wild confusion and
uproarious merriment ensued as I never saw before in my life. The
skipper, true to his traditions, got fast to four, all running different
ways at once, and making the calm sea boil again with their frantic
gyrations. Each of the other boats got hold of three; but, the mate
getting too near me, our fish got so inextricably tangled up that it was
hopeless to try and distinguish between each other's prizes. However,
when we got the lances to work among them, the hubbub calmed down
greatly, and the big b