VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN. 99 



placed at the nose and tail, is immediately strip- 

 ped of its blubber. This process is by Greenland 

 sailors termed flinching, and is very speedily per- 

 formed. The harpooners and their assistants cut 

 the blubber into long stripes, which are hoisted 

 into the ship, cut into smaller pieces, and thrown 

 into the hold, from whence they are again brought 

 upon deck to be pared and barrelled up. In 

 flinching, the whale is turned round by a tackle 

 made fast to the fins. 



The process of paring and barrelling up the 

 blubber, is termed making off, and is performed at 

 leisure times when the crew are not engaged in the 

 pursuit of live whales. The blubber being brought 

 upon deck, the fleshy parts are pared off, and it is 

 then placed, piece by piece, on a block, having three 

 iron spikes in the top to keep it steady ; here it is 

 skinned by a harpooner, and is then ready for 

 chopping. This operation is performed by the 

 boat-steerers, who cut the blubber into pieces of 

 about one foot long, and three inches square at the 

 ends. When it is chopped they push it off the 

 bench into the speck trough, placed by the side of 

 the hatchway, having what is called a lull bag 

 attached to a hole in the bottom for the purpose of 

 letting down the chopped blubber to a tub in the 

 hold. The blubber is afterwards put, piece by piece, 



