H I S C A P T O R S. 87 



Color of the Oil. Quantity. Density. 



Frequently the oil in a pot rises at once and 

 boils over, communicating fire to the others: 

 this is generally checked by means of covers 

 which are at hand to smother the flame ; but, 

 though not an uncommon occurrence, it is at- 

 tended with considerable danger. The color of 

 the oil depends much upon the mode of boiling 

 it. Unless the pots are kept perfectly clean, 

 and no sediment permitted to adhere to the bot- 

 tom, the oil will be dark and of inferior value. 

 It is necessary, therefore, that one man be con- 

 stantly employed in stirring the mass, while it 

 is the duty of another to skim out the scraps as 

 fast as they are "done:" these are used for 

 fuel, no wood being necessary after the fire is 

 started. 



The blubber on a fat whale is sometimes, in 

 its thickest parts, from fifteen to twenty inches 

 thick, though seldom more than a foot ; it is of 

 a coarser texture and much harder than fat 

 pork. So very full of oil is it, that a cask close- 

 ly packed with the clean raw fat of the whale 

 will not contain the oil boiled from it, and the 

 scraps are left beside : this has been frequently 

 proved by experiment. 



Both the sperm and right whale are usually 



