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green and putrid. Men are now set to work to 

 fish out those pieces not considered of sufficient 

 value to try out, and pitch them overboard. For 

 this purpose one has to lean with his head tjuite 

 inside the open cask, and inhaling all the noisome 

 stench arising from the decayed mass within, feel 

 around with his hands, to grasp the slimy moiflela 

 which are not fit for the try -kettles. 



The captain and I worked side by side at one 

 cask for a half an hour, at the end of which time 

 I was obliged to say that I could not stand it 

 longer. I was deathly sick. 



" That's nothing, Charley," said he, "just fancy 

 it's dollars you are groping among, and the 

 matter will assume a very different odor." But I 

 thought that too high a price for dollars. 



The third afternoon we tried out our last kettle 

 full, and put out the fires. The blubber room was 

 now cleaned out, the various utensils used for the 

 past three days, stowed away, and the decks 

 cleaned up a little. Two days longer the oil was 

 kept upon deck, to give it time to cool thoroughly, 

 and then the labor of " stowing down " began. 

 Boiling huge oil casks across a slippery deck, 

 while the ship is pitching and rolling in the sea- 

 way, is a task of considerable labor. This, too, 

 came to an end at last, and then ensued a grand 

 cleaning up decks, sides, bulwarks, forecastle and 

 cabin, all received a thorough cleansing, and at 

 the end of two or three days more, the ship again 

 looked like the habitation of Christian men. and 



