His CAPTORS. 161 



Labor and Painstaking of Whalemen. Oily Processes. 



horse" which is a tough, stringy, and slightly 

 elastic substance interposed with it, that con- 

 tains little or no oil, and is as good as a cotton 

 bale to shield a sperm whale's head from blows. 

 Then follows the trying out, stowing down, 

 overhauling, and coopering again the hogsheads 

 of this valuable fluid, which they on land, who 

 are turning night into day by means of its clear 

 light, little know the hazard and labor of Amer- 

 ican whalemen in procuring. At the comple- 

 tion of the voyage this oil will be drawn from 

 the casks, and, after a process of boiling and 

 cooling, will be put into vats with a strainer 

 which detains the spermaceti mixed with oil. 



It is then a yellow viscous substance, which 

 is afterward put into strong canvass bags, and 

 subjected to a screw press, and next to the 

 pressure of the hydraulic engine, whereby the 

 oily matter is all expelled, leaving the sperma- 

 ceti in hard, concrete masses. This, after boil- 

 ing with potash and purifying, is molded into 

 those beautiful oilless candles which are sold 

 under the name of spermaceti. 



The first manufactory of sperm candles in 

 America was started in Rhode Island in 1750, 

 by one Benjamin Crab, an Englishman. By 

 I, 



