and that is generally very early; no portion is required, none is
expected; no marriage articles are drawn up among us, by skilful
lawyers, to puzzle and lead posterity to the bar, or to satisfy the
pride of the parties. We give nothing with our daughters, their
education, their health, and the customary out-set, are all that the
fathers of numerous families can afford: as the wife's fortune
consists principally in her future economy, modesty, and skilful
management; so the husband's is founded on his abilities to labour,
on his health, and the knowledge of some trade or business. Their
mutual endeavours, after a few years of constant application, seldom
fail of success, and of bringing them the means to rear and support
the new race which accompanies the nuptial bed. Those children born
by the sea-side, hear the roaring of its waves as soon as they are
able to listen; it is the first noise with which they become
acquainted, and by early plunging in it they acquire that boldness,
that presence of mind, and dexterity, which makes them ever after
such expert seamen. They often hear their fathers recount the
adventures of their youth, their combats with the whales; and these
recitals imprint on their opening minds an early curiosity and taste
for the same life. They often cross the sea to go to the main, and
learn even in those short voyages how to qualify themselves for
longer and more dangerous ones; they are therefore deservedly
conspicuous for their maritime knowledge and experience, all over
the continent. A man born here is distinguishable by his gait from
among an hundred other men, so remarkable are they for a pliability
of sinews, and a peculiar agility, which attends them even to old
age. I have heard some persons attribute this to the effects of the
whale oil, with which they are so copiously anointed in the various
operations it must undergo ere it is fit either for the European
market or the candle manufactory.