WHALE-F[SHERY. 237 



ceives it, washes it in a vessel of clean water, and 

 removes, with a bit of wood, the impurities out of 

 the cavity of the root. Thus cleansed, it is exposed 

 to the air and sun until thoroughly dry, when it is 

 removed into a warehouse, or other place of safety 

 and shelter. 



Before it is offered for sale, it it usually scrubbed 

 with brushes and hair-cloth, by which the surface 

 receives a polish, and all dirt or dust adhering to it 

 is removed; and finally, it is packed in portable 

 bundles, consisting of about a hundred weight each. 

 The size-bone, or such pieces as measure six feet 

 or upward in length, is kept separate from the un- 

 der-size; the latter being usually sold at half the 

 price of the former. Each blade being terminated 

 with a quantity of hair, there is sometimes a diffi- 

 culty in deciding, whether some blades of whale- 

 bone are size or not. Owing to the diminished value 

 of under-size bone, and more particularly, in conse- 

 quence of the captain and some of the officers engag- 

 ed in a fishing ship, having a premium on every 

 size fish, it becomes a matter of some importance in 

 a doubtful case, to decide this point. From a de- 

 cision, which I understand has been made in a court 

 of law, it is now a generally received rule, that so 

 much of the substance terminating each blade, as 

 gives rise to two or more hairs, is whalebone: 

 though, in fact, the hair itself is actually the same 

 substance as that of which the whalebone is com- 

 posed. 



