TRYING-OUT. 41 



About the same time two ships bore down to 

 speak us, the Henry of Sag Harbour, and the 

 Lowell of New London. Their captains came 

 on board to congratulate us on our success, 

 and " learn the news." They had just arrived 

 on the ground, and had not yet taken any 

 whales. 



Soon after we had finished cutting in, about 

 eight o'clock in the evening, the wind increased 

 almost to a gale, making it impossible " to try 

 out" that night. But the next day, while the ship 

 was lying-to, the business was begun in good 

 earnest : the blubber-men cutting up in the 

 blubber-room ; others pitching it on deck ; 

 others forking it over to the side of the " try- 

 works ;" two men standing by a "horse" with 

 a mincing knife to cleave the pieces into many 

 parts for the more easy trying out, as the rind 

 of a joint of pork is cut by the cook for roast- 

 ing ; the boat-steerers and one of the mates 

 pitching it into the kettles, feeding the fires 

 with the scraps, and bailing the boiling fluid 

 into copper tanks, from which it is the duty 

 of another to dip into casks. 



