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[Download pdf] Advances In Informatics And Computing In Civil And Construction Engineering Proceedings Of The 35Th Cib W78 2018 Conference It In Design Construction And Management Ivan Mutis online ebook all chapter pdf
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Ivan Mutis · Timo Hartmann Editors
Advances in Informatics
and Computing in
Civil and Construction
Engineering
Proceedings of the 35th CIB W78 2018 Conference:
IT in Design, Construction, and Management
Advances in Informatics and Computing in Civil
and Construction Engineering
Ivan Mutis • Timo Hartmann
Editors
Advances in Informatics
and Computing in Civil
and Construction Engineering
Proceedings of the 35th CIB W78 2018
Conference: IT in Design, Construction,
and Management
123
Editors
Ivan Mutis Timo Hartmann
CAEE Institute of Civil Engineering
Illinois Institute of Technology TU Berlin
Chicago, IL, USA Berlin, Germany
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Letter from the Editors
The 35th CIB W78 conference took place in Chicago in 2018, with a theme focused on
fostering, encouraging, and promoting research and development in the application of
integrated information technology (IT) throughout the life cycle of the design, construction,
and occupancy of buildings and related facilities. Organized by Professors David Arditi and
Ivan Mutis (Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago), Timo Hartmann (Technische
Universität Berlin), Robert Amor (University of Auckland), and with special and valuable
support from Bill East (Prairie Sky Consulting, USA), it brought together more than 200
scholars from 40 countries, who presented the innovative and unique concepts and methods
featured in this collection of papers.
With the publication of these contributions, we expect to scaffold scholars’ motivations to
inspire and discover the pressing research questions that need to be answered in the coming
decade. Framed under topic clusters as described in the introductory section, the Editors
organized the responses of the 2018 worldwide, open call for submissions. Taking the number
of submissions in each focus area as an indicator of research potential, the open call elicited
the lowest response in the area of Systems of Integrated Computer and Physical Components
(Cyber-Physical-Systems), which suggests underdevelopment of initiatives for scientific
questions in this area. We look forward to seeing greater response to this area in the future.
Ultimately, the success of this event and its contribution to the field of informatics and
computing in civil and construction engineering is the result of countless hours of
investigation, development, and work from scholars across the globe. The Editors and
organizing committee thank all who have supported the effort. We thank in particular the paper
reviewers.
The research and approaches that have been developed and presented at this conference can
immediately deliver extraordinary innovations to construction practices with benefits
attributable to individuals, organizations, and the industry, as a whole. Looking forward,
the legacy of this conference will be carried not only through its influence on the construction
practice but also on research for years to come.
Ivan Mutis
Timo Hartmann
v
About CIB and CIB W78
CIB, officially named International Council for Research and Innovation in Building
Construction, was established in 1953 under the name Conseil International du Bâtiment. The
foundational objectives of CIB were to stimulate and facilitate the international cooperation
and exchange of information between governmental research institutes in the building and
construction sector, with an emphasis on those engaged in technical fields of research. Since
its inception, the association has developed into a worldwide network that connects more than
5000 experts. These specialists represent the research institutes, university, and industry- and
government-related entities that constitute the approximate 500-member organizations of CIB.
Though the size and strength of the organization today has grown compared to the past, the
focus of CIB and its members remains the same: the active collection of research and
innovation information for all aspects of building and construction.
CIB W78, or work group 78, is one of the largest and most active working commissions of
CIB. The scope of W78’s work is broad, but its primary mission is to proactively encourage
the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into a facility’s life
cycle. It achieves this goal by disseminating research and knowledge among an international
community of scholars and practitioners in a variety of means, most notably the annual
international conference.
vii
Contents
ix
x Contents
Part II Cyber-Human-Systems
19 The BIMbot: A Cognitive Assistant in the BIM Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Ivan Mutis, Adithya Ramachandran, and Marc Gil Martinez
20 Perceived Productivity Effects of Mobile ICT
in Construction Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Abid Hasan, Kumar Neeraj Jha, Raufdeen Rameezdeen, SeungJun Ahn,
and Bassam Baroudi
21 Mobile EEG-Based Workers’ Stress Recognition by Applying Deep
Neural Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Houtan Jebelli, Mohammad Mahdi Khalili, and SangHyun Lee
22 Feasibility of Wearable Electromyography (EMG) to Assess
Construction Workers’ Muscle Fatigue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Houtan Jebelli and SangHyun Lee
23 Tacit Knowledge: How Can We Capture It?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Jacqueline Jepson, Konstantinos Kirytopoulos, and Nicholas Chileshe
24 Inside the Collective Mind: Features Extraction to Support Automated
Design Space Explorations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Lucian-Constantin Ungureanu and Timo Hartmann
25 Detecting Falls-from-Height with Wearable Sensors and Reducing
Consequences of Occupational Fall Accidents Leveraging IoT . . . . . . . . . . 207
Onur Dogan and Asli Akcamete
26 Using Augmented Reality to Facilitate Construction Site Activities . . . . . . . 215
Serkan Kivrak and Gokhan Arslan
Contents xi
Part V Cyber-Physical-Systems
75 Comparison Between Current Methods of Indoor Network Analysis
for Emergency Response Through BIM/CAD-GIS Integration . . . . . . . . . . 627
Akram Mahdaviparsa and Tamera McCuen
76 Instrumentation and Data Collection Methodology to Enhance
Productivity in Construction Sites Using Embedded Systems
and IoT Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
Alejandra M. Carmona, Ana I. Chaparro, Ricardo Velásquez,
Juan Botero-Valencia, Luis Castano-Londono, David Marquez-Viloria,
and Ana M. Mesa
77 A Cyber-Physical Middleware Platform for Buildings
in Smart Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
Balaji Kalluri, Clayton Miller, Bharath Seshadri, and Arno Schlueter
78 A Framework for CPS-Based Real-Time Mobile Crane Operations . . . . . . 653
Congwen Kan, Chimay J. Anumba, and John I. Messner
79 Drive Towards Real-Time Reasoning of Building Performance:
Development of a Live, Cloud-Based System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 661
Ruwini Edirisinghe and Jin Woo
80 Bayesian Network Modeling of Airport Runway Incursion Occurring
Processes for Predictive Accident Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 669
Zhe Sun, Cheng Zhang, Pingbo Tang, Yuhao Wang, and Yongming Liu
81 A Low-Cost System for Monitoring Tower Crane Productivity
Cycles Combining Inertial Measurement Units, Load Cells
and Lora Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
Alejandra M. Carmona, Ana I. Chaparro, Susana Pardo, Ricardo Velásquez,
Juan Botero-Valencia, Luis Castano-Londono, David Marquez-Viloria,
Cristóbal Botero, and Ana M. Mesa
82 The Interface Layer of a BIM-IoT Prototype for Energy Consumption
Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
Fernanda Almeida Machado, Cassio Gião Dezotti, and Regina Coeli Ruschel
83 Predicting Energy Consumption of Office Buildings: A Hybrid Machine
Learning-Based Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695
Kadir Amasyali and Nora El-Gohary
Contents xv
Ivan Mutis
Timo Hartmann
xvii
xviii Introduction
References
1. National Science Foundation (NSF).: NSF’s 10 Big Ideas. (2018) Available: https://www.nsf.gov/news/
special_reports/big_ideas/
2. National Science Foundation (NSF).: Building the future investing in discovery and innovation. In: National
Science Board, National Science Foundation (NSF), vol. NSF-18-45, Arlington, Virginia (2018)
3. Rajkumar, R., Lee, I., Sha, L., Stankovic, J.: Cyber-physical systems: The next computing revolution. In:
Design Automation Conference, pp. 731–736. (2010)
14 E. Oliveira et al.
Fig. 2.1 Proposed framework for integration of 4D BIM models and sensor data for automatic construction report
Fig. 2.2 Image from the construction work in which the case study was developed
• In time measurement registration, stop periods smaller than 30 min has been deduct;
• Collecting plans, divided by sectors, were used, considering previously collected quantities;
• The amount of the workforce has been daily collected, identifying only those which were selected explicitly to the work
being monitored;
Characterization of the working site: residential buildings for low-income people, 4 towers in total, 8 reference floor plans
for each building, 8 apartments by floor and 2 different layout areas: 51 and 62 m2 (Fig. 2.2).
2 Simulation of Construction Processes as a Link Between … 15
On each floor, there are 531.12 m2 of slab area and 889.84 m2 of structural masonry area, right foot of 2.60 m with
0.010 m of slab thickness (pre-slab) coated by pumped concrete.
Vertical transport had been implanted with Skytrack (Fig. 2.3), for the displacement of bricks and mortars pallets, until
sixth floor was reached. A pinion elevator was used for the remaining floors.
Future work will be done in monitoring masonry construction workers on-site with a UWB system. The main objective is
to study dimensioning of the work force, and non-added value displacement of resources to increase productivity on-site.
Based on productivity indicators, a “simulator” was developed and implemented on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets (Fig. 2.4).
The quantitative data collected, have been tabulated following the productivity methodology developed by [19] of RUP
(Unitary Rate of Production): daily RUP, cumulative RUP and potential RUP.
Based on these indicators, the “simulator” interpolates the most proper RUP for each project and search for the best
productivity value. From those values, it identifies quantity and cost of workforce, and quantity of materials by step/floor
required to attend the productivity goals (Fig. 2.4).
However, the “simulation” with Excel is restricted to show which resources, and in which place they must be applied,
without allowing to deal with organizational and logistical optimization.
In trying to solve these variations, the ProModel, a software for simulation available to the research team, has been used.
ProModel uses concepts such as entities, resources, locations, processing and arrivals, as basic building blocks of its
simulation.
Entities are anything that will be processed in the simulation, and resources are agents in the transformation processes of
entities. Both will generate, in general, the points looked after for analysis of the modeling details. In this simulation, entities
are: raw material that end up being the structural masonry. And resources are the moving machinery and the pallets supplied.
Locations are fixed places which entities pass through: can be the place of arrival, processing or output. In the simulation
made, the locations are: stock and sub stocks of supplies, each building tower and pinion elevators.
Processing are the logic of how entities travels from one location to another. Processing in this simulation are: trans-
portation machinery with consideration for loading and unloading wait time, including supplies of pallets to specific building
floors.
Arrivals are the moments in which the entities are inputted in some location in specific times of the simulation. In this
simulation, the arrivals are: the input of machinery of transportation and the input of pallets of supplies.
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strength to push away the stone, had we not, with all our united
power, held it against her. When she found that all her efforts were
fruitless she rejoined the tiger, who lay stretched beside his cubs,
and he arose and added his howls to her hollow roarings. They
stood together for a few moments, as if in consultation, and then
suddenly went off at a rapid pace, and disappeared from our sight.
Their howling died away in the distance, and then entirely ceased.
We now began to entertain better hopes of our condition; but
Wharton shook his head.
“Do not flatter yourselves,” said he, “with the belief that these
animals will let us escape out of their sight till they have had their
revenge. The hours we have to live are numbered.”
Nevertheless, there still appeared a chance for our rescue, for, to
our surprise, we saw both our Indians standing before the entrance,
and heard them call to us to seize the only possibility of our yet
saving ourselves by instant flight, for that the tigers had only gone
round the height to seek another inlet to the cave, with which they
were no doubt acquainted. In the greatest haste the stone was
pushed aside, and we stepped forth from what we had considered a
living grave. Wharton was the last who left it; he was unwilling to lose
his double-barreled gun, and stopped to take it up; the rest of us only
thought of making our escape. We now heard once more the roaring
of the tigers, though at a distance; and, following the example of our
guides, we precipitately struck into a sidepath. From the number of
roots and branches of trees with which the storm had strewed our
way, and the slipperiness of the road, our flight was slow and difficult.
Wharton, though an active seaman, had a heavy step, and had great
difficulty in keeping pace with us, and we were often obliged to
slacken our own on his account.
We had proceeded thus for about a quarter of an hour, when we
found that our way led along the edge of a rocky cliff, with
innumerable fissures. We had just entered upon it, when suddenly
the Indians, who were before us, uttered one of their piercing
shrieks, and we immediately became aware that the tigers were in
pursuit of us. Urged by despair, we rushed towards the breaks, or
gulfs, in our way, over which was thrown a bridge of reeds, that
sprang up and down at every step, and could be trodden with safety
by the light foot of the Indians alone. Deep in the hollow below
rushed an impetuous stream, and a thousand pointed and jagged
rocks threatened destruction on every side. Lincoln, my huntsman,
and myself, passed over the chasm in safety; but Wharton was still
in the middle of the waving bridge, and endeavoring to steady
himself, when both the tigers were seen to issue from the adjoining
forest; and, the moment they descried us they bounded towards us
with dreadful roarings. Meanwhile, Wharton had nearly gained the
safe side of the gulf, and we were all clambering the rocky cliff,
except Lincoln, who remained at the reedy bridge to assist his friend
to step upon firm ground. Wharton, though the ferocious animals
were close upon him, never lost his courage or presence of mind.
As soon as he had gained the edge of the cliff, he knelt down, and,
with the edge of his sword, divided the fastenings by which the
bridge was attached to the rock. He expected an effectual barrier
would thus be put to the farther progress of our pursuers; but he was
mistaken; for he had scarcely accomplished his task, when the
tigress, without a moment’s pause, rushed towards the chasm, and
attempted to bound over. It was a fearful sight to see the mighty
animal, suspended for a moment in the air above the abyss; but the
scene passed like a flash of lightning. Her strength was not equal to
the distance; she fell into the gulf, and before she reached the
bottom, was torn into a thousand pieces by the jagged points of the
rocks. Her fate did not in the least dismay her companion; he
followed her with an immense spring, and reached the opposite side,
but only with his fore-claws, and thus he clung to the edge of the
precipice, endeavoring to gain a footing. The Indians again uttered a
wild shriek, as if all hope had been lost. But Wharton, who was
nearest to the edge of the rock, advanced courageously towards the
tiger, and struck his sword into the animal’s breast. Enraged beyond
all measure, the wild beast collected all his strength, and with a
violent effort, fixing one of his hind-legs upon the edge of the cliff, he
seized Wharton by the thigh. The heroic man still preserved his
fortitude; he grasped the trunk of à tree with his left hand, to steady
and support himself, while with his right he wrenched and violently
turned the sword that was still in the breast of the tiger.
All this was the work of an instant. The Indians, Frank, and myself
hastened to his assistance; but Lincoln, who was already at his side,
had seized Wharton’s gun, which lay near by, upon the ground, and
struck so powerful a blow with the butt-end upon the head of the
tiger, that the animal, stunned and overpowered, let go his hold and
fell back into the abyss. All would have been well, had it ended thus;
but the unfortunate Lincoln had not calculated upon the force of his
blow; he staggered forward, reeled upon the edge of the precipice,
extended his hand to seize upon anything to save himself—but in
vain. His foot slipped; for an instant he hovered over the gulf, and
then was plunged into it to rise no more!—Edinburgh Literary
Journal.
WHALE HUNTING
By J. Ross Browne
“There she blows!” was sung out from the mast-head.
“Where away?” demanded the captain.
“Three points off the lee bow, sir.”
“Raise up your wheel. Steady!”
“Steady, sir.”
“Mast-head, ahoy! Do you see that whale now?”
“Aye, aye, sir! A school of sperm whales! There she blows! There
she breaches!”
“Sing out! Sing out every time!”
“Aye, aye, sir! There she blows! There—there—thar’ she blows—
blowes—blo-o-o-s!”
“How far off!”
“Two miles and a half!”
“Thunder and lightning! so near! Call all hands! Clew up the fore-
t’gallant-sail—there! belay! Hard down your wheel! Haul aback the
main yard! Get your tubs in your boats! Bear a hand! Clear your falls!
Stand by all to lower! All ready?”
“All ready, sir!”
“Lower away!”
Down went the boats with a splash. Each boat’s crew sprang over
the rail, and in an instant the larboard, starboard and waist boats
were manned. There was great rivalry in getting the start. The waist-
boat got off in pretty good time; and away went all three, dashing the
water high over their bows. Nothing could be more exciting than the
chase.
The larboard boat, commanded by the mate, and the waist-boat,
by the second mate, were head and head.
“Give way, my lads, give way!” shouted our headsman; “we gain
on them; give way! A long, steady stroke! That’s the way to tell it!”
“Aye, aye!” cried Tabor, our boat-steerer. “What d’ye say, boys?
Shall we lick ’em?”
“Pull! pull like vengeance!” echoed the crew; and we danced over
the waves, scarcely seeming to touch them.
The chase was now truly soul-stirring. Sometimes the larboard,
then the starboard, then the waist-boat took the lead. It was a severe
trial of skill and muscle. After we had run two miles at this rate, the
whales turned flukes, going dead to windward.
“Now for it, my lads!” cried our headsman. “We’ll have them the
next rising. Now pile it on! a long, steady pull! That’s it! Don’t give
out! Half an hour more, and they’re our whales!”
The other boats had veered off at either side of us, and continued
the chase with renewed ardor. In about half an hour we lay on our
oars to look around for the whales.
“There she blows! right ahead!” shouted Tabor, fairly dancing with
delight.
“There she blows! There she blows!”
“Oh, Lord, boys, spring!” cried our headsman.
“Spring it is! What d’ye say, now, chummies? Shall we take those
whales?”
To this general appeal every man replied by putting his weight on
his oar, and exerting his utmost strength. The boat flew through the
water with incredible swiftness, scarcely rising to the waves.
A large bull whale lay about a quarter of a mile ahead of us, lazily
rolling in the trough of the sea. The larboard and starboard boats
were far to leeward of us, tugging hard to get a chance at the other
whales, which were now blowing in every direction.
“Give way! give way, my hearties!” cried our headsman, putting his
weight against the aft oar. “Do you love gin? A bottle of gin to the
best man! Oh, pile it on while you have breath! pile it on!”
“On with the beef, chummies! Smash every oar! double ’em up, or
break ’em!”
“Every devil’s imp of you, pull! No talking; lay back to it; now or
never!”
On dashed the boat, cleaving its way through the rough sea as if
the briny element were blue smoke. The whale, however, turned
flukes before we could reach him. When he appeared again above
the surface of the water, it was evident that he had milled while
down, by which maneuver he gained on us nearly a mile. The chase
was now almost hopeless, as he was making to windward rapidly. A
heavy, black cloud was on the horizon, portending an approaching
squall, and the barque was fast fading from sight. Still we were not to
be baffled by discouraging circumstances of this kind, and we braced
our sinews for a grand and final effort.
“Never give up, my lads!” said the headsman, in a cheering voice.
“Mark my words, we’ll have that whale yet. Only think he’s ours, and
there’s no mistake about it, he will be ours. Now for a hard, steady
pull! Give way!”
“Give way, sir! Give way, all!”
“There she blows! Oh, pull my lively lads! Only a mile off! There
she blows!”
The wind by this time had increased almost to a gale, and the
heavy black clouds were scattering over us far and wide. Part of the
squall had passed off to leeward and entirely concealed the barque.
Our situation was rather unpleasant: in a rough sea, the other boats
out of sight, and each moment the wind increasing.
We continued to strain every muscle till we were hard upon the
whale. Tabor sprang to the bow, and stood by with the harpoon.
“Softly, softly, my lads,” said the headsman.
“Aye, aye, sir!”
“Hush-h-h! softly. Now’s your time, Tabor!”
Tabor let fly the harpoon, and buried the iron.
“Give him another!”
“Aye, aye! Stern all!”
“Stern all!” thundered the headsman.
“Stern all!”
And, as we rapidly backed from the whale, he flung his
tremendous flukes high in the air, covering us with a cloud of spray.
He then sounded, making the line whiz as it passed through the
chocks. When he rose to the surface again, we hauled up, and the
second mate stood ready in the bow to dispatch him with lances.
“Spouting blood!” said Tabor. “He’s a dead whale! He won’t need
much lancing.”
It was true enough; for, before the officer could get within dart of
him, he commenced his dying struggles. The sea was crimsoned
with his blood. By the time we had reached him, he was belly up. We
lay upon our oars a moment to witness his last throes, and, when he
had turned his head toward the sun, a loud, simultaneous cheer
burst from every lip.
A low, rumbling sound, like the roar of a distant waterfall, now
reached our ears. Each moment it grew louder.
The whole expansive arch of the heavens became dark with
clouds tossing, flying, swelling, and whirling over and over, like the
surges of an angry sea. A white cloud, gleaming against the black
mass behind it, came sweeping toward us, stretching forth its long,
white arms, as if to grasp us in its fatal embrace. Louder and still
louder it growled; yet the air was still and heavy around us. Now the
white cloud spread, whirled over, and lost its hoary head; now it wore
the mane and forefeet of a lion; now the heads of a dragon, with their
tremendous jaws extended. Writhing, hissing, roaring, it swept
toward us. The demon of wrath could not have assumed a more
frightful form. The whole face of the ocean was hidden in utter
darkness, save within a circle of a few hundred yards. Our little boat
floated on a sea almost unruffled by a breath of wind. The heavy
swell rolled lazily past us; yet a death-like calmness reigned in the
air. Beyond the circle all was strife; within, all peace. We gazed
anxiously in each other’s faces; but not a word was spoken. Even
the veteran harpooner looked upon the clouds with a face of unusual
solemnity, as we lay upon our oars, awed to silence by the sublimity
of the scene. The ominous stillness of everything within the circle
became painful. For many long minutes the surface of the water
remained nearly smooth. We dreaded, but longed for a change. This
state of suspense was growing intolerable. I could hear the deep,
long-drawn respirations of those around me; I saw the quick, anxious
glances they turned to windward; and I almost fancied I could read
every thought that passed within their breasts.
Suddenly a white streak of foam appeared within a hundred yards.
Scarcely had we unshipped our oars, when the squall burst upon us
with stunning violence. The weather side of the boat was raised high
out of the water, and the rushing foam dashed over the gunwale in
torrents. We soon trimmed her, however, and, by hard bailing, got
her clear of water. It is utterly impossible to conceive the violence of
the wind. Small as the surface exposed to the squall was, we flew
through the foaming seas, dragging the dead body of the whale after
us with incredible velocity. Thus situated, entirely at the mercy of the
wind and sea, we continued every moment to increase our distance
from the barque. When the squall abated, we came to under the lee
of the whale, and looked to leeward for the barque. Not a speck
could be seen on the horizon! Night was rapidly approaching, and
we were alone upon the broad, angry ocean!
“Ship your oars,” said the headsman; “we’ll not part company with
old blubber yet. If we can’t make the barque, we can make land
somewhere.”
“Aye, aye,” said Tabor, with a sly leer, “and live on roast-beef and
turkey while we’re making it.”
With heavy hearts and many misgivings we shipped our oars,
heartily wishing the whale in the devil’s try-pots; for we thought it
rather hard that our lives should be risked for a few barrels of oil. For
two hours we pulled a long, lazy, dogged stroke, without a sign of
relief. At last Tabor stood up on the bow to look out, and we lay on
our oars.
“Well, Tabor, what d’ye see?” was the general inquiry.
“Why,” said Tabor, coolly rolling the quid from his weather to his
lee cheek, “I see a cussed old barque that looks like Granny
Howland’s wash-tub, with a few broomsticks rigged up in the middle
of it.”
“Pull, you devils!” cried our headsman; “there’s duff in the cook’s
coppers.”
“Yes! I think I smell it,” said Tabor.
It was nearly dark when we arrived alongside of the barque with
our prize; but what was our surprise to find that the starboard and
larboard boats had killed five whales between them! They were all of
a small size, and did not average more than fifteen barrels each.
That night not a breath of air ruffled the clear, broad ocean as it
swelled beneath and around us, forming a multitude of mirrors that
reflected all the beauties of the splendid canopy above. The moon
arose with unusual brilliancy. It was a night for the winged spirits of
the air. I enjoyed a melancholy pleasure in walking the decks
beneath the soft moonbeams, thinking of past times. Silence reigned
over the deep. The calm, broad ocean presented a beautiful simile of
repose, and the light, shadowy clouds floated motionless in the air,
as if in awe of the mighty wilderness of waters beneath them. A
clear, silvery light beamed over the glassy swell; and far away the
moon’s rays, casting their soft and delicate glow over the whole
scene, gradually vanished in a dreamy haze upon the horizon. I
gazed with pensive feelings upon this scene; so calm, so heavenly,
so unrivaled in its loveliness; and I thought, with a sigh, of the
coming day: the fiery, tropical sun; the heat and smoke of the try-
works; and all the realities of a whaleman’s life. I have heard of the
solitude of the desert; but what can compare with that of the ocean
at such a time as this?
Never had the sea looked more beautiful than it did that night.
It was a source of pleasure to feel that, notwithstanding the
wretched life I led, there were still left a few of the better feelings of
my nature. A passage in the “Vision of Don Roderic” occurred to me
as singularly expressive of the checkered fortunes of a seafarer. Well
might I hope the light cloud which occasionally obscured the moon’s
brightness might prove a happy omen of my future fate:
“Melting, as a wreath of snow it hangs
In folds of wavy silver round, and clothes
The orb in richer beauty than her own;
Then, passing, leaves her in her light serene.”
AN UNEXPECTED ADVENTURE
By John Muir
A wild scene, but not a safe one, is made by the moon as it
appears through the edge of the Yosemite Fall when one is behind it.
Once, after enjoying the night-song of the waters and watching the
formation of the colored bow as the moon came round the domes
and sent her beams into the wild uproar, I ventured out on the
narrow bench that extends back of the fall from Fern Ledge and
began to admire the dim-veiled grandeur of the view. I could see the
fine, gauzy threads of the fall’s filmy border by having the light in
front; and wishing to look at the moon through the meshes of some
of the denser portions of the fall, I ventured to creep further behind it
while it was gently wind-swayed, without taking sufficient thought
about the consequences of its swaying back to its natural position
after the wind-pressure should be removed. The effect was
enchanting: fine, savage music sounding above, beneath, around
me; while the moon, apparently in the very midst of the rushing
waters, seemed to be struggling to keep her place, on account of the
ever-varying form and density of the water-masses through which
she was seen, now darkly veiled or eclipsed by a rush of thick-
headed comets, now flashing out through openings between their
tails. I was in fairyland between the dark wall and the wild throng of
illumined waters, but suffered sudden disenchantment; for, like the
witch-scene in Alloway Kirk, “in an instant all was dark.” Down came
a dash of spent comets, thin and harmless-looking in the distance,
but they felt desperately solid and stony when they struck my
shoulders, like a mixture of choking spray and gravel and big