28 THE WHALE HUNTERS 



chanted one. Tut thy hearts into it. Come, come, is 

 that the best that thou canst do? Thou, boy, put thy 

 chest to the bar and show me something of the man thou 

 hopest to be one day.' 



As each blanket piece of blubber came up the beach on 

 the end of the capstan rope it was unhooked and loaded 

 into a horse-drawn cart which when full took its loads to 

 the trying-out ovens nearby. There the blubber was 

 chopped into fine pieces before being sent up in baskets to 

 the tops of the ovens where it was dropped into the 

 boiling coppers. The fires had been started with wood 

 but soon the frizzled tissues of the blubber were scooped 

 from the bottoms of the coppers, strained and used as fuel 

 so that the plumes of smoke from the chimneys changed 

 from blue to black and the clean sea air became fouled by 

 the stench of burning flesh. 



Then the men standing on the platforms around the 

 coppers ladled the boiling liquid into wooden troughs 

 each of which led to a complicated system of wicker filters 

 and wooden barrels. From this primitive plant whose 

 only power was the simple force of gravity the cooled and 

 purified oil emerged at ground level and flowed into the 

 casks in which it would be stoppered and stored; and in 

 which, in due course, it would be shipped to Boston, 

 Massachusetts, which was the marketing centre for the 

 whale oil of New England. 



In the late afternoon when the last cask had been 

 stoppered the great Master Jackson himself came and 

 walked between the rows counting off with his forefinger 

 the total yield from the two whales. 



'Three hundred and eighteen barrels!' he cried and a 

 cheer went up from the tired band of whalemen. 



As the crowd dispersed Jonathan was joined by Joseph 

 and Ebenezer, who despite their weariness were showing 

 broad grins, evidently in anticipation of their own particu- 

 lar share of the profits. 



