One result of this continual drive and tear was
that all these landsmen became rapidly imbued with the virtues of
cleanliness, which was extended to the den in which we lived, or
I verily believe sickness would have soon thinned us out.
On the fourth day after leaving port we were all busy as usual
except the four men in the "crow's-nests," when a sudden cry of
"Porps! porps!" brought everything to a standstill. A large
school of porpoises had just joined us, in their usual clownish
fashion, rolling and tumbling around the bows as the old barky
wallowed along, surrounded by a wide ellipse of snowy foam. All
work was instantly suspended, and active preparations made for
securing a few of these frolicsome fellows. A "block," or
pulley, was hung out at the bowsprit end, a whale-line passed
through it and "bent" (fastened) on to a harpoon. Another line
with a running "bowline," or slip-noose, was also passed out to
the bowsprit end, being held there by one man in readiness. Then
one of the harpooners ran out along the backropes, which keep the
jib-boom down, taking his stand beneath the bowsprit with the
harpoon ready. Presently he raised his iron and followed the
track of a rising porpoise with its point until the creature
broke water.
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