National Republican., 1883-09-19
ON BOARD A WHALER.
What Woman Learned About Whales and
Whalers in tho HarbOr Tumbog.
A Chicago Built Eoat ia south American
Waters,
Sneotnl LcRer.

Special Letter.
CALLAo, PERU, Aug. 22.--Our steamer did
not leave Guayaquil until tho next after
noon, and carly in the morning the enemy
tried TO shell Nientomilla's gunboat, which
was lying quite near US but their aim was
bad and tho shot fell harmlessly in the water.
Finally giving IL up, they recommended the
usual desultory firing of small arms, which
was kept up all day.
Tho river is beautiful from the city down.
The stream is broad, and tho banks, whilo
not high, are bluff and beautifully green
with quantities of trees, principally tamarind,
clothing them There werc q good many
houses, that in the distance one could imag-
inc to he large haciendas, inhabited in sum-
mer by wealthy Ecuadorian dons, but the few
mansions that stood OH the river bank tended
TO dspcl any such illusion, for they were
small two stOried huts and seemed built for
frcshCts, there being no rooms on the frs
floor and only few on the second, these few
being surrounded by piazza, the roof of
which was formed by the oyerhanging caves
of tho tEatched roof
About fifteen hours after Il wing Guya1uil
we anchored Oft Tumbcg that Is, VIC were
told wo were there and accepted the state
ment with un questioning faith, merely ask
ing to have the town pointed out, VIC having
x,
coast line of the bay and tho Hat plain back
of it, for even n native hut. We were
answered that tho town was on the bank of q
river three miles inlaEl, as tho crow flies, or
nine, rs tho river winds, hence invisible. The
rivers moth wGs concealed by trees, but
several boats came of, among them two that
attracted much attention Ono was cedar
canoe, built in Chicago and imported by its
owner, who is wealthy man of Tumbeg, and
who was very proud of his craft, his face being
bright with pleasure as he answered the many
questions asked about it, The other craft
was bolsa, laden with tobacco sewed up in
hides. had always had a romantic idea of a
bolsa. 1t was my idea of safety and lightncss
combined, so | gazed with astonshment and
disgust at the actual thing. There was first
n row Of seven large logs of cork wood lashch
together, and over these the water washed,
and the two men who wero managing IL had
their trousers rolled up to their knees, and
were wet pretty much all over. CrOsswise of
the seven lower logs were several shorter ones
lashed down firmly, and OH these were
piled the cargo and the household
effects of the crew, which consisted Of two
wooden boxes. one to make fire in, and the
other to hold n tin skillet, "a few bananas and
u little rice. They had split log for rud-
der, and their mast was very clumsy; one
end was sharponed and forced in between the
logs the other had Loe bored through it,
and through this ran a rope, which held up q
large cotton sail. The whole thing was wet
and uncomfortable, and sympathized deeply
with the unfortunates who had to pass much
of their lives on board.
Tumbeg is a great resort for whalers and
one was lying about n milo from us with the
American flag flying. Her captain having
invited us to 60 on beard we went. She was
the Cape Horn Pigeon, of New Bedford, and
has been out here n good many years. Her
captain Kelly by name, is an old salt, having
spent fifty years whaling, and he is looking
forward to retiring to u farm where he will
have some fun with his neighbors, who are
also old whalers, by getting behind stone
wall and singing out, "There she breaches!"
when they are quietly at work. We were
hoisted over the side in q wooden arm chair
Shat was draped with bunting, and raised by
the sailors pulling on rope that ran through
q block on the yard arm. We found the deck
clean but slippery, and the large barrels Of oil
ranged on each side first caught my eye. They
were filed, for they had been having good
luck, and on some of the barrels lay the
weapons that they use.
There was tho old hand lance and / was
assured nothing better had over been in
vented. Then there was harpoon and what
they called torpedo gun, which had large
bore and was quite heavy. The barrel was
detachable, and it fired n small brass torpedo
about six or eight inches long. The blubber
is cut OFF whale as we pare an apple, by roll
ing it over and over. AS they roll whale
over they cut the blubber of in one long strip,
and it is hosted inboard by an iron chain,
terminating at one end in two hooks and the
other passing over a block which hangs at the
mainmast. As fast as it come on board it is seized
and cut up in pieces on II choppng block and
thrown into ono of two kettles, underneath
them being Il hot fire. AS soon rs it is we'll
melted the oil is drained off into another kct-
tic and from there into another, by which
time it is cool enough to put into the barrels
The residue is Alled scrap ana it is used for
fuel. 1t is very porous and looks like tOasted
bread. l was persuaded to taste some, being
assured by the captain and crew tnat IL was
excellent, and that they always cooked their
doughnuts i'll tho oil and were unable to tell
it from lard, although the captain admitted
that his wife said she could tell the differ
ence, but he didn't think she could. Deter
mined not to back down, ! swallowed my
piece, but words fail me in which to describe
the nauscatinG, penetrating taste IT staid in
my throat and mouth for two days and makes
mo sick now to think of it. / cannot con-
ceive of any one who would not know the
difference.
The sailors showed us, at my request, some
OF the things they make out OF whales teeth.
They had II carved mcorschaum, and we Sc
cured two pretty sCrimshawed teeth. Scrim-
shaw is n iackGy word for ct hing, which is
colorcd with India ink, They do some very
pretty work of this kind, the sperm whales
teeth being of excellent ivory, and they otch
figures and ships on them very we'll They
also had cane made of sharks backbone.
We went down into the cabin, finding 1t
bright and cheerful, and then left, after wish
ing them pleasant voyage and many whales
MAETUERrrE DICKI;s.
improvements ut the White House.