Page:Songs from the Southern Seas and Other Poems (1873).djvu/85

Rh Had a sight more oil than the big bull whales we think so much of now. We were more to the east, off Java Straits, a little below the mouth,— A hundred and five to the east'ard and nine degrees to the south; And that was as good a whaling-ground for middling-sized, handy whales As any in all the ocean; and 'twas always white with sails From Scotland and Hull and New England,—for the whales were thick as frogs. And 'twas little trouble to kill 'em then, for they lay as quiet as logs. And every night we 'd go visiting the other whale-ships 'round, Or p'r'aps we'd strike on a Dutchman, calmed off the Straits, and bound To Singapore or Batavia, with plenty of schnapps to sell For a few whale's teeth or a gallon of oil, and the latest news to tell.