194 THE CRUISE OF THE " CACHALOT." 



impossible to get up any fighting enthusiasm over it ; 

 the poor, unwieldy creature died meekly and quietly as 

 an overgrown seal. In less than an hour from the time 

 of leaving the ship we were ready to bring our prize 

 alongside. 



Upon coming up to the whale, sail was shortened, 

 and as soon as the fluke-chain was passed we anchored. 

 It was, I heard, our skipper's boast that he could " skin 

 a bowhead in forty minutes ; " and although we were 

 certainly longer than that, the celerity with which what 

 seemed a gigantic task was accomplished was marvellous. 

 Of course, it was all plain-sailing, very unlike the 

 complicated and herculean task inevitable at the com- 

 mencement of cutting-in a sperm whale. 



Except for the head work, removing the blubber was 

 effected in precisely the same way as in the case of the 

 cachalot. There was a marked difference between the 

 quantity of lard enveloping this whale and those we had 

 hitherto dealt with. It was nearly double the thickness, 

 besides being much richer in oil, which fairly dripped 

 from it as we hoisted in the blanket-pieces. The upper 

 jaw was removed for its long plates of whalebone or 

 baleen — that valuable substance which alone makes 

 it worth while nowadays to go after the Mysticetus, the 

 price obtained for the oil being so low as to make it 

 not worth while to fit out ships to go in search of it 

 alone. " Trying-out " the blubber, with its accompani- 

 ments, is carried on precisely as with the sperm whale. 

 The resultant oil, when recent, is of a clear white, unlike 

 the golden-tinted fluid obtained from the cachalot. As 

 it grows stale it developes a nauseous smell, which sperm 

 does not, although the odour of the oil is otto of roses 

 compared with the horrible mass of putridity landed 



