THE ARCTIC SEAS. ] i'3 



attended with imminent danger ; but at other times, 

 it yields its life quietly, turning gently over on its 

 side. The flags are now struck, three hearty cheers 

 resound, and the unwieldy prey is towed in triumph 

 to the ship. 



So huge a mass, of course, is slowly moved 

 through the water, but there are few operations that 

 are more joyously performed ; it is like the harvest- 

 home of the farmer. When arrived, it is secured 

 alongside the ship, and somewhat stretched by tackles 

 at the head and tail, and the process of flensing com- 

 mences. The men having shoes armed with long iron 

 spikes to maintain their footing, get down on the 

 huge and slippery carcass, and with very long knives 

 and sharp spades make parallel cuts through the 

 blubber, from the head to the tail A band of fat, 

 however, is left round the neck, called the hent, to 

 which hooks and ropes are attached for the purpose 

 of shifting round the carcass. The long parallel 

 strips are divided across into portions weighing about 

 half a ton each, and being separated from the flesh 

 beneath, are hoisted on board, chopped into pieces, 

 and put into casks. When the whalebone is exposed, 

 it is detached by spades, &c., made for the purpose, 

 and hoisted on deck in a mass ; it is then split into 

 junks, containing eight or ten blades each. Some- 

 times the jaws are taken out, and being fixed in a 

 perpendicular position on deck, with the extremities 

 in vessels, a considerable quantity of oil gradually 

 drains from them. The carcass is then cut away as 

 valueless to man, though a valuable prize to bears, 

 birds, and sharks. Sometimes the carcass sinks ira- 



