200 Our North Land. 



On the arrival of the vessel, the whale is made fast to her side, 

 tail forward, so that the large open mouth will not fill with water 

 in case of the advance of the ship, and the work of sculping is begun. 

 This is done under the superintendence of an official called " the 

 Inspectioneer." Eight or ten men are lowered upon the body of the 

 whale, with nails or brads in the soles of their boots, like creepers, 

 in order that they may not slip off his 'round form ; and with long 

 knives, well sharpened for the purpose, commence the work of 

 removing the blubber, or fat, which is generally eighteen inches 

 thick over the whole carcase. The men usually indulge their vocal 

 powers, during this work, in some such enlivening pieces as : — 



" O, waken her, O, shake her, 



O, shake that girl with a blue dress on ; 



My Johnny come down in a high low." 



or the following, which is a particular favourite with whalers : — 



" Weigh, ha, blow the man down, 

 Blow the man down to New York town. 

 Give me some time to blow the man down." 



The blubber is hoisted to the deck by means of block and tackle 

 and stored away in the bunkers. Care is exercised in removing the 

 bone in order not to damage it, as it is worth over £1,000 sterling a 

 ton. Each whale contains something less than half a ton of bone 

 (some contain a ton), averaging a length of about eleven feet. It is 

 often fourteen feet long. The tongue is also valuable for oil, and if 

 the whale is not an exceedingly large one, this member can be hoisted 

 on deck in three pieces. A fair sized whale will yield twenty to 

 thirty tons of blubber. The hide is not valuable, and is cut into 

 pieces along with the fat. 



The value of the fat or oil in its rough state is about £40 a ton, 

 so that the whale, if a good sized one, is worth from £1,000 sterling. 

 A small steam vessel of say six hundred and fifty tons could secure 

 any season ten or twenty whales, or a cargo to the value of from 

 £30,000 to £50,000, or, say $150,000 to $200,000. The smallest craft 

 never secure less than five whales, or a cargo worth $30,000. 

 Sometimes whales are hard to be found and but few are taken ; but 



