WHALE-FISHERY. £33 



and in some concerns in Hull and other ports, the 

 speculators in the whale fishery are provided with 

 cisterns or tanks, wherein they can deposit their 

 oil, and preserve it until a convenient time for sell- 

 ing, without being subject to the waste which usu- 

 ally takes place when it is put into casks. From 

 these cisterns, any quantity can be drawn off at 

 pleasure. 



The smell of oil, during its extraction, is un- 

 doubtedly disagreeable; but : perhaps, not more so 

 than the vapour arising from any other substance 

 submitted to the action of heat when in a putrid 

 state. The prevailing opinion, however, that a 

 whale ship must always give out the same unplea- 

 sant smell, is quite erroneous* The fact is, that 

 the fat of the whale, in its fresh state, has no offen- 

 sive flavour whatever, and never becomes disagree- 

 able until it is brought into a warm climate and 

 becomes putrid; neither is a whale ship more un- 

 pleasant than any other trader, until after her cargo 

 is opened on her arrival in port. 



Description of Whalebone, and the Method of Pre- 

 paring it. 



Whalebone, or whale fins, as the substance is 

 sometimes, t\v ugh incorrectly named, is found in 

 the mouth of the common Greenland whale, to which 

 it serves as a substitute for teeth. It forms an ap- 

 paratus most admirably adapted, as a filter, for se- 



Vol. III. 30 



