the slightest objection to the singularly unpleasant task I had set them,) as very strange that I should wish to possess what they had been working so hard to procure for me.
“What can have made you wish to bring away that brute's entrails, father? Are they of any use?”
“There are countries,” I replied, “where no wood grows of which to make barrels, and no hemp for thread, string, and cordage. Necessity, the mother of all the more valuable inventions, has taught the inhabitants of those countries, Greenlanders, Esquimaux, and others, to think of substitutes, and they use the intestines of the whale for one purpose, the sinews and nerves for the other.”
We were right glad to land, and get rid, for the present, of our unpleasant materials, the further preparation of which was work in store for the following day.
A refreshing bath, clean clothes, and supper, cheered us all up, and we slept in peace.
