THE SPERMACETI CACHALOT. 97 



The substances taken from the head, congealing as 

 soon as cold, the compound is thrown in its crude state 

 into casks, and is purified at the end of the voyage 

 on shore. The oil is reduced from the blubber short- 

 ly after it is on board, in " try works/' with which 

 the ships engaged in this business are always pro- 

 vided. There are two coppers in the try works, 

 placed side by side, near the fore hatch. These, 

 with their furnaces and casing of brickwork, occupy 

 a space of five or six feet in length, by eight or nine 

 in breadth, (or fore and aft — and athwart ship,) and 

 four or five feet in height. The cavity of the brick 

 arches sustaining the coppers and furnaces, forms a 

 water cistern, so that while the fire is burning, the 

 deck is secured from injury by the changing of the 

 water in the cistern twice or thrice in every watch. 

 As the oil is extracted it is thrown into coolers, 

 whence, after about twenty-four hours, it is trans- 

 ferred to casks. At first the coppers are heat- 

 ed with wood, but afterwards the cracklings or frit- 

 ters of the blubber, which still contain some oil, are 

 employed as fuel, and produce a fierce fire. About 

 three tons of oil are commonly obtained from a large 

 cachalot of this species; from one to two tons are 

 procured from a small one. A cargo, produced 

 from one hundred cachalots, may be from 150 to 800 

 tons of oil, besides the spermaceti, &c. 



Vol. III. 13 



