Presently we had a multitude of unbidden guests. The air was filled by
the shrill screams and hoarse croaks and cries of numbers of birds of
prey; they flew around us in ever narrowing circles, and becoming
bolder as their voracity was excited by the near view of the tempting
prey, they alighted close to us, snatching morsels greedily from under
the very strokes of our knives and hatchets.
Our work was seriously interrupted by these feathered marauders, who,
after all, were no greater robbers than we ourselves. We kept them off
as well as we could by blows from our tools, and several were killed,
my wife taking possession of them immediately for the sake of the
feathers.
It was nearly time to leave the island, but first I stripped off a long
piece of the skin, to be used for traces, harness, and other
leather-work. It was about three-quarters of an inch thick, and very
soft and oily--but I knew it would shrink and be tough and durable.
I also took a part of the gums in which the roots of the baleen or
whalebone was still embedded, having read that this is considered quite
a delicacy, as well as the skin, which, when properly dressed and cut
in little cubes, like black dice, has been compared, by enthusiastic
(and probably very hungry) travellers, to cocoanut and cream-cheese.
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