But woe
unto you if you have allowed the jeers of your shipmates to
dissuade you from taking a sack out with you.
The struggles of these fish are marvellous, and a man runs great
risk of being shaken off the boom, unless his legs are firmly
locked in between the guys. Such is the tremendous vibration that
a twenty-pound bonito makes in a man's grip, that it can be felt
in the cabin at the other and of the ship; and I have often come
in triumphantly with one, having lost all feeling in my arms and
a goodly portion of skin off my breast and side, where I have
embraced the prize in a grim determination to hold him at all
hazards, besides being literally drenched with his blood.
Like all our fishing operations on board the CACHALOT, this day's
fishing was conducted on scientific principles, and resulted in
twenty-five fine fish being shipped, which were a welcome
addition to our scanty allowance. Happily for us, they would not
take the salt in that sultry latitude soon enough to preserve
them; for, when they can be salted, they become like brine
itself, and are quite unfit for food. Yet we should have been
compelled to eat salt bonito, or go without meat altogether, if
it had been possible to cure them.
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