38 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES. 



rather, slabs of whalebone, radiate in leaves that 

 lie edgewise to the mouth, from each side of 

 what may be called the ridge-pole of the 

 mouth's roof, forming a house almost big 

 enough for a man to stand up in. Outside 

 it is crowned by what they call a bonnet, being 

 a crest or comb in which burrow legions of 

 barnacles and crabs, like rabbits in a warren, 

 or insects in the shaggy bark of an old tree. 



Next came the lower jaw and throat, to- 

 gether with the tongue, which latter alone must 

 have weighed fifteen hundred or two thousand 

 pounds ; an enormous mass of fat, not, however, 

 so firm and tough as the blubber. Whalers 

 often have to lose it, especially from the north- 

 west whale, it being impossible to get it up on 

 deck, detached and alone, because it would not 

 hold by the tackling ; and it is generally too 

 large and heavy to be raised along with the 

 throat. 



After this was got on deck, the rest of the 

 way was plain sailing, the blubber of the body 

 being cut and peeled off in huge unbroken 

 strips as the carcass rolled over and over, being 



