CETACEANS. 209 



posure, which must be regarded as dangerous, from the 

 number of sharks which swarm in the sea on these 

 occasions. 



The windlass being put in motion, the blubber is 

 raised and put on the stretch, when its separation from 

 the carcase being assisted by the spades, and the 

 whale at the same time revolving slowly in the water, 

 it is peeled off in a spiral direction, or as the rind from 

 an apple, and in one continuous sheet about four feet 

 in breadth ; but as the elevation of the cutting-falls does 

 not permit a " blanket-piece " higher than the main- 

 mast to be received on board at one time, the sheet, 

 when it has attained that height, is divided, and lowered 

 down the main-hatchway into a room set apart for its 

 reception, whilst a second set of pulleys raises a piece 

 of similar size. Meanwhile, the important parts of the 

 head are secured, either by unsocketing the skull at its 

 junction with the spine, and taking the whole on deck, 

 if a small whale, or by separating, in one piece, the bulk 

 of soft parts in front of the skull, and which has 

 already been mentioned as being composed of the 

 valuable oily structures termed the junk and case. 



When the blubber has been removed, the flinched 

 carcase is disjointed near the tail, and allowed to sink 

 or float away, according to its specific gravity; and 

 subsequently, the flukes are cast off, unless the ship is 

 compelled to economise for her cargo, when it is found 

 that saving this member is an addition of about one 

 barrel of oil to the produce of a large whale. 



The lower jaw is sometimes also reserved, not more 

 for the sake of the oily matters attached to it, than for 

 its ivory teeth and colossal bones, from which the 

 crew, during their leisure hours, manufacture many 

 useful and ornamental articles. 



VOL. II. P 



