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[[in pencil]] 73 [[/in pencil]]

if occasion required it, [[underlined]]once in an hour! [[/underlined]] [[strikethrough]] During [[/strikethrough]] [[insertion]] Following [[/insertion]] this [[underlined]]long-prolonged-drawing-in-breath [[/underlined]] [[insertion]] & its expulsion, [[/insertion]] Ephraim [[insertion]] to breathe [[/insertion]] ceased [[insertion]] then with [[/insertion]] nimble fingers he filled each Button-hole with its proper button. Pants were [[insertion]] now [[/insertion]] on & completely adjusted - [[underlined]] buttoned![[/underlined]] Whales - & men . belong to the same Sub-Kingdom. Both orders, Primates & Cete - must have air, or, they die. Whales when long without air - say an hour - on coming up to breathe make the regions round about ring with the force [[strikethrough]] & volume of the [[/strikethrough]] with which they [[insertion]] respire & [[/insertion]] inspire. "Ephraim" had suspended respiration for full (?) two minutes - this at the sacrifice of great [[insertion]] almost super-Esquimaux [[/insertion]] effort. [[strikethrough]] apparently. [[/strikethrough]] He could stand it no longer. Nature must [[strikethrough]] She did [[/strikethrough]] resume [[strikethrough]] d [[/strikethrough]] her functions [[insertion]] which it did [[/insertion]]]] by [[strikethrough]] one [[/strikethrough]] a sudden - a terrific suction! Ephraim's pants [[strikethrough]] exploded [[/strikethrough]] exploded! Civilization buttons [[strikethrough]] (& button holes, for aught that I know) [[/strikethrough]] flew like glass covering the deck of the "George Henry" in their fragments reminding us of that 4th of 
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[[pencil]] 74 [[/pencil]]
July scene, of the day preceding the explosion of "Old Sebastipol"! [[underlined]] "Mirabile dictu [[/underlined]]!" "Sterry" was standing within [[strikethrough]] his [[/strikethrough]] rifle-shot of "Ephraim" when this accident(?) occured. He [[insertion]]thought he [[/insertion]] saw the air filled with "a great white light." Asked the Capt. even, if he thought all danger was past [[strikethrough]]?[[/strikethrough]] - said [[strikethrough]] this [[/strikethrough]] he felt as if something terrible had [[insertion]][[strikethrough]] not [[/strikethrough]][[/insertion]] taken place but thought it probable a worse scene would follow. It proved afterward that Sterry's eye had caught a look at one of the [[strikethrough]] Buttons [[/strikethrough]] [[insertion]] flying [[/insertion]] buttons (or a portion of one) which was of white bone & from this thought he saw [[strikethrough]] a [[/strikethrough]] [[insertion]] the[[/insertion]] great white light. The worse scene that Sterry was positive would follow was from [[insertion]] the effects of [[/insertion]] a sight of a "Bottle-nose" - or Nose of a Bottle, which was commencing its warfare down within his digestive organs.

One thing Esquimaux should be taught a saying of old Horace: [[underlined]] Naturam expelles [[/underlined]]

Transcription Notes:
Mirabile dictu - wonderful to relate