Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas

f the place in which the doctor

he bowsprit: the same term, however, is generally bestowed upon the sailors' sleeping-qu

f rude bunks. Those of the Julia were in a most deplorable condition, mere wrecks, some having been torn down altogether to patch up others; and on one side there were b

es I could pick up. For a pillow, I wrapped an old jacket round a log. T

s substitutes for the demolished bunks; but the space they sw

even this space was encroached upon by two outlandish cross-timbers bracing the vessel, and by the sailors' chests, over which you must needs

between them, by a rusty chain, swung the forecastle lamp, burning day and night, and forever casting two long black shadows. Lower down, b

p and discoloured, and here and there soft and porous. Moreover, it was hacked and hewed without mercy, the cook frequently helping himself to splinters for kindling-wood

emergency, the tarpaulin temporarily placed there was little protection from the spray heaved over the bows; so that in anything of a breeze the place was miserabl

disputed possession of them. Myriads of cockroaches, and regiments of rats disputed the p

to repeople the ship in an incredibly short period. In some vessels, the crews of which after a hard fight have given themselves up, as it were, for lost, the vermin seem to take actual possessio

; every chink and cranny swarmed with them; they did not live among you, but you among them. So true w

as an extraordinary phenomenon, for

e sleeping-places. This was succeeded by a prodigious coming and going on the part of those living out of sight Presently they all came forth; the large

t pleasure. The performance lasted some ten minutes, during which no hive ever hummed louder. Often it was lamented by us that the time of the visitation could

y darted in upon us at meal-times, and nibbled our food. The first time they approached Wymontoo, he was actually frightened; but becoming accustomed to it, he so

t hid away in a tin can in the farthest corner of my bunk.. Faring as we did, this molasses dropped upon a biscuit was a positive luxury, which I shared wi

ong it had been there, kind Providence never revealed; nor were we over anxious to know; for we hushed up the bare thoug