Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas

arm that, when the watches were relieved, most of the men, i

ith a mild, steady strain upon the canvas, and the ship heading right out into the immense blank of the Western Pacific. The watch were asleep.

le. I leaned over the side, and could not help think

shed into view at one end of the arched night, like-to compare great things with small-the gleamings of Guy Fawkes's lantern in the vaults of the Parliament House. Before l

formal baptism of Wymontoo, who, after thinking over

ord; while Doctor Long Ghost remarked that he ought, by all means, to retain his original name,-Wymontoo-Hee, meaning (as he maintained), in the figurative language of the island, something analog

d, and became very melancholy. Often I noticed him crouching apart in the forecastle, his strange eyes gleaming restlessly, and watching the s

routine of sea-life, as if everything was going on prosperously. Blown along over a smooth sea, there was nothing to do but steer the ship, and relieve the "look-outs" at the mast-heads. As for the sick

tively by the mate and the Mowree; the latter by virtue of his being a

ng, we seemed always in the same place, and every day was the former lived over again. We saw no ships, expected to see none. No sign of life was perceptible but the porpoises and other fish sporting under the bows like pups ashore. But, at intervals, the gray

t that we were abroad upon waters comparatively little traversed, lent

nsiderable portions still remain wholly unexplored; and there is doubt as to the actual existence of certain shoals, and reefs, and small clusters of islands vaguely laid down in the charts. The mere circumstance, therefore, of a ship like ours penetrating into these regions, was sufficient to cause any reflecting mind

reckless shipmates; and along we went, the sun e

destination was never made known. The stories he told us, I, for o

e, the sea was alive with large whales, so tame that all you had to do was to go up and kill them: they were too frightened to resist. A little to leeward of this was a

ecise latitude and longitude of the spot we were going to, Jermin never revealed

cases, were thrown to the fish, and in place thereof, the contents of a mysterious little quarter cask were produced, diluted with water from the "butt." His draughts were mixed on the capstan, in cocoa-nut shells marked with the patients' names. Like shore do

mself agreeable. His books, though sadly torn and tattered, were an invaluable resource. I read them through again and again, including a learned treatise on the yellow fever. In addition to these, he had an old file of Sydney papers, and I soon became

forecastle; and they not only treated him in the most friendly manner, but looked up to him with the utmost deference, besides laughing heartily at all his jokes. As his chosen associate, this

her suitable way of distinguishing the sets, I marked mine by tying round them little scarfs of black silk, torn from an old neck-handkerchief. Putting them in mourning this way, the doctor said, was quite appropriate, seeing that they had reason to feel sad three games out of four. Of chess, the men ne