ABNERS WHALE. 83 



aft out of the way, and secured to the lash-rail. The 

 subsequent proceedings were just the same as before 

 described, only more so. For a whole week our labours 

 continued, and when they were over we had stowed 

 below a hundred and forty-six barrels of mingled oil and 

 spermaceti, or fourteen and a half tuns. 



It was really a pleasant sight to see Abner receiving, 

 as if being invested with an order of merit, the twenty 

 pounds of tobacco to which he was entitled. Poor fellow ! 

 he felt as if at last he were going to be thought a little 

 of, and treated a little better. He brought his bounty 

 forrard, and shared it out as far as it would go with the 

 greatest delight and good nature possible. Whatever he 

 might have been thought of aft, certainly, for the time, 

 he was a very important personage forrard ; even the 

 Portuguese, who were inclined to be jealous of what they 

 considered an infringement of their rights, were mollified 

 by the generosity shown. 



After every sign of the operations had been cleared 

 away, the jaw was brought out, and the teeth extracted 

 with a small tackle. They were set solidly into a hard 

 white gum, which had to be cut away all around them 

 before they would come out. When cleaned of the gum, 

 they were headed up in a small barrel of brine. The 

 great jaw-pans were sawn off, and placed at the disposal 

 of anybody who wanted pieces of bone for " scrimshaw," 

 or carved work. This is a very favourite pastime on 

 board whalers, though, in ships such as ours, the crew 

 have little opportunity for doing anything, hardly any 

 leisure during daylight being allowed. But our carpenter 

 was a famous workman at " scrimshaw," and he started 

 half a dozen walking-sticks forthwith. A favourite 

 design is to carve the bone into the similitude of a rope, 



