KINGSMILL's GROUP.--SINGULAR WHALING INCIDENT.--HARD AND FAST.--A PERILOUS POSITION.
We now made our cruising-ground for a time among the islands of Kingsmill's group, setting the starboard and larboard watches again, as it was necessary to keep sail on the ship day and night, to avoid drifting off the ground altogether. This necessity is owing not only to the prevalence of the trade wind which blows in the same general direction at all times, except when replaced for very short periods by the "westerly monsoons," so called; but also to a current, varying more or less in force, which sets to the westward all through this chain of islands. These circumstances, in connection with the low and dangerous character of some of the islets, as well as their uncertain position on the charts, demanded great vigilance in the night watches, and the strictest orders were given to the officers in this particular.
The scenes at Byron's Island were repeated at others with little variation in general outline; for, almost as soon as land was seen, the triangular sails would also make their appearance; and but few days passed without communication and traffic with some of them. I soon learned to judge of the age of a cocoanut before buying it, for, as there is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous, so it requires but a short stage in the growth of the nut to change the milk from Olympian nectar into the most insipid slops; while I was careful not to rush blindly into _tikee moee-moee_ speculations without investigating the matter to the very bottom. My little stock of rarities in conchology was much augmented by small additions made at various times; and I had rather more hats, as well as bigger ones, hung up in my bunk, than the Arethusa had in her slopchest; for some of my first purchases in this line would have set loosely on Daniel Lambert.
These little episodes, interspersed with the excitement of whaling adventures, served effectually to break the monotony of a long cruise at sea, and to make the time pass quickly and pleasantly. Sperm whales are frequently seen, and we were successful, as a general thing, in taking them. The whales here ran small in size; the cows seldom yielding above twenty barrels, oftener fifteen or sixteen. Now and then a school would be met with, accompanied by one old eighty-barrel patriarch, or _schoolmaster_, as he might be not inaptly termed. Of course, our principal efforts were directed to capturing this fellow, if possible. In one instance, we succeeded quite unexpectedly, and in a very singular manner.