By way of Cape Horn : $b four months in a Yankee clipperStevenson, Paul Eve
History
By way of Cape Horn : $b four months in a Yankee clipper
Stevenson, Paul Eve
Hosea Higgins (Ship); Seafaring life; Voyages to the Pacific coast
Mention has not been made of a certain dish that was placed upon the
supper-table a few nights after the last pig had been killed. In one
of the compartments of the rack was a plate of cold salt beef; while
in the other was something that we thought was mighty good, judging
from the fragrance that rose from beneath the cover. When the latter
was removed, though, there lay revealed some queer-looking, black
fragments that might have been anything rather than meat. It turned out
to be pig’s flesh right enough, but no one could guess what portions
of his anatomy they were. Some of the objects were cylindrical; these
were sections of the creature’s tongue. Others were very irregular and
unusual-looking; these were the ears; while a villanous mass that stood
aloof from the rest was recommended by the skipper as the heart. “I
think you’ll like that,” he observed, “though some do say there’s too
much muscle in it.”
The only really unsuccessful article manufactured by the merry little
Cantonite is the pie-crust. It is very attractive and tempting to
contemplate, which makes the reality harder to bear, for it is the only
wholly indigestible article of food I ever came across; you can even
feel your teeth gliding smoothly over flakes of sticky lard scattered
freely through it. Nothing but hydrochloric acid could have the
least solvent effect upon it. Oh, yes, there is something else,--the
captain’s digestive organs. It will be recalled that when we first came
on board he mentioned that he was a dyspeptic; but goodness, gracious
me! it is a revelation to watch him denude meat or fruit pies of the
armor-plate which invests them. He has another favorite dish, too,
that he usually eats for breakfast; it looked familiar at first, and
we tried some, but instantly desisted. It was like large grains of
sand; the captain called it boiled hominy. Latitude, 18° 25′ south;
longitude, 93° 55′ west.
+August 13+
Fresh Trades, moderate sea, and dazzling skies were ours during this
day, and we made more than two degrees of latitude and only five
miles less than three of longitude. It is glorious, and everything
has assumed a tropical aspect: the sea, which undulates in swinging,
dark-blue heaves, topped with sparkling froth; and the air, which
sleepily fans one with its soft, drowsy breath. Even the men have begun
to show the influence of warmer climes, and duck and dungaree garments,
long buried in the noisome and impenetrable mysteries of a sailor’s
chest, have suddenly bloomed forth like lilies in the spring. We have
kept away a little to the westward of northwest so as to cross the line
in about 116°.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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