HISTORY AND DETAILS OP WHALING. 275 



is about eighteen inches. The lance is prepared with a hollow 

 tube, extending half or two thirds of the distance through it ; 

 and this tube is filled with a combustible material that readily 

 ignites when the gun is fired. When the lance has buried it- 

 self in the huge body of the whale, the fire communicates with 

 the explosive part of the filling in the tube, situated about in 

 the centre of the lance, and in a few moments, thirty seconds 

 perhaps, it bursts like a bomb, and destroys the life of the 

 whale. The bomb lance may be fired with effect at a whale, 

 at a distance of about fifty yards or more. 



" The huge body is now towed to the ship ; a hole is cut 

 into the blubber near the head, into which a strong hook is in- 

 serted — a difficult and dangerous operation. A strong tension 

 is then applied to this hook, and by it the blubber is hoisted 

 up, as it is generally cut by the spades in a spiral strip, going 

 round and round the body, the whale being secured alongside 

 of the ship, and somewhat stretched by tackles both at the 

 head and tail. As this strip or band of blubber is pulled off, 

 weighing from one half to two tons, the body of course re- 

 volves, until the stripping reaches the ' small,' when it will 

 turn no more. 



" The head, which at the commencement of the process was 

 cut off and secured astern, is now hoisted into a perpendicular 

 position, the front of the muzzle opened, and the oil dipped 

 out of the case by a bucket at the end of a pole." A ship has 

 no purchase sufficiently strong to hoist in on deck the head of 

 a large sperm whale. It is so heavy that it would take the 

 masts out of her if attempted, or bring her keel out of water. 

 Besides, it is so bulky that it would more than fill up the entire 

 waist of the ship. The head sometimes contains more than 

 fifty barrels of oil. 



After the oil has been dipped out of the " case," the " junk" 

 is then cut into oblong pieces and taken in on deck ; the re- 

 mainder of the head and carcass are then cut adrift. The oil 

 is afterwards extracted from the blubber and junk, being cut 



