THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 237 



l)hil)ljer is pulled off, the body of course revolves, 

 until the stripping reaches " the small," when it will 

 turn no more. The head, which at the commence- 

 ment of the process was cut off and secured astern, 

 is now hoisted into a perpendicular position, the 

 front of the muzzle opened, and the spermaceti 

 dipped out of the " case " by a bucket at the end of 

 a pole. The "junk" is then cut into oblong pieces, 

 and the remainder of the head, with the carcass, cut 

 adrift. The oil is afterwards extracted from the 

 blubber and junk by exposing them to the action of 

 fire in large pots, the skinny portions which remain 

 serving for fuel : and the spermaceti is purified in 

 the same manner. The products are then stowed 

 away in barrels in the vessel's hold. 



The following narrative, from the interesting work 

 of jMr. Beale, gives us a vivid picture of this exciting 

 pursuit: "At daybreak, one fine morning in August, 

 as our first mate was going aloft to look out for 

 Whales, he discovered no less than three ships 

 within a mile of us ; but they were situated in 

 vui-ious directions. We soon discovered them to be 

 whalers, who, like ourselves, were cruising after the 

 Spermaceti Whale, and, therefore, their appearance 

 only had the effect of redoubling our \ngilance in 

 the look-out, so that we might, if possible, be the 

 first to obtain the best chance, if one of those crea- 

 tures hove in sight. And it was not long before a 

 rery large Whale made his appearance right in 

 among the ships. The water was smooth at the 

 time, for we had but a light air of wind stirring, 

 60 that our boats were instantly lowered without 



