196 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



ill junk casks as fast as it is whipped or l)ailed from tlie case. The 

 junk is reduced to horse-pieces, placed in similar receiJtacles, and 

 held in reserve witli the head matter until the body blubber has been 

 disposed of. The junk casks are ordinary oil casks Avitli one head 

 removed, and vary in caijacity from 100 to 300 gallons each. They 

 are also used to hold the scrap which is saved as fuel. Instead of the 

 casks some of the larger vessels have one or two tanks betAveen decks, 

 which are used as temporary receptacles for the head matter and also 

 for storing the oil. 



When ready to boil out the head, the try-pots are well scrubbed, 

 greater care being taken than when boiling the body blubbei-. They 

 are next about half filled with some of tlu' head matter as soon as 

 it is bailed from the case, the remainder being stowed away as just 

 mentioned. With legs and feet bare, men get into the pots and, 

 standing in this odorous compound, sipiee/e out the soft pieces of 

 fat. The oil flows freely between their lingers into the pots, while the 

 refuse, called " twitter," is throAvn into another receptacle, called the 

 deck-pot, or perhaps into scrap-tubs. Notwithstanding the many 

 improvements that have been made in the oil industries, no process 

 of eliminating this membranous texture from the crude sperm oil has 

 yet been discovered except the one just referred to— that of squeezing 

 b}' hand. It is necessary to remove these fibers to prevent them from 

 charring and darkening the oil. The case being carefully squeezed, 

 the fires are started and the cooking then commences. The pots are 

 spaded constantly to prevent the small but sometimes numerous par- 

 ticles of twitter, which have not been removed, from burning against 

 the sides and bottoms. Meantime other men are squeezing out the 

 remainder of the head matter deposited in the junk cases, and this is 

 kept in scrap-tubs and poured into the pots as soon as the first install- 

 ment has been properlj^ cooked and bailed ofi", this operation continu- 

 ing until all the head matter has been boiled out. 



While the case is boiling, some of the crew cut the junk into horse- 

 pieces somewhat larger than the body-blubber horse-pieces, and these 

 sections, after mincing, are pitched into a pot of thoroughly cooked 

 head matter. The hot oil of the case soon dissolves the junk, the two 

 mingling most intimately, being of a kindred nature. Sometimes the 

 case and the junk are boiled separately. 



AVhite-horse in considerable quantity ranges tlirough tlu^ jinik in 

 sti-eaks. It is tougher and whiter in large whales than in small ones. 

 The fatty substance found between these laj^ers, or strata, is soft — 

 about the consistency of butter — and is of a pinkish cast, resembling 

 somewhat in color the meat of a watermelon. The white-horse of large 

 whales, especiallj^ of an aged male, is remarkably tough and is detached 

 by means of sharp cutting-spades and thrown overboard. There is 

 little oil in it, and its extreme toughness prevents it from being 

 minced. If attempts are made to boil it out with the junk, it usually 

 soaks up more oil than it yields. But the junk of small whales, more 



