"* DIRTY WORK FOR CLEAN MONEY.** 49 



into a wax-like substance, bland and tasteless. There 

 being now nothing more remaining about the skull of 

 any value, the lashings were loosed, and the first lee- 

 ward roll sent the great mass plunging overboard with 

 a mighty splash. It sank like a stone, eagerly followed 

 by a few small sharks that were hovering near. 



As may be imagined, much oil was running about 

 the deck, for so saturated was every part of the creature 

 with it that it really gushed like water during the 

 cutting-up process. None of it was allowed to run to 

 waste, though, for the scupper-holes which drain the 

 deck were all carefully plugged, and as soon as the 

 "junk" had been dissected all the oil was carefully 

 •' squeegeed " up and poured into the try-pots. 



Two men were now told off as " blubber-room men," 

 whose duty it became to go below, and squeezing them- 

 selves in as best they could between the greasy masses 

 of fat, cut it up into "horse-pieces" about eighteen 

 inches long and six inches square. Doing this they 

 became perfectly saturated with oil, as if they had taken 

 a bath in a tank of it ; for as the vessel rolled it was 

 impossible to maintain a footing, and every fall was 

 upon blubber running with oil. A machine of wonderful 

 construction had been erected on deck in a kind of 

 shallow trough about six feet long by four feet wide and_ 

 a foot deep. At some remote period of time it had no 

 doubt been looked upon as a triumph of ingenuity, a 

 patent mincing machine. Its action was somewhat like 

 that of a chaff-cutter, except that the knife was ri'A 

 attached to the wheel, and only rose and fell, since it 

 was not required to cut right through the " horse- 

 pieces" with which it was fed. It will be readily 

 understood that in order to get the oil quickly out of 



