[3] SVEND FOYN'S whaling ESTABLISHMENT. 339 



iengaged iu various manipulations. Pieces of fat two and three times 

 the length of a man were cut from the large animals and simply thrown 

 into the water (the workmen partly stand on the whales) and drawn 

 ashore with large hooks. Large quantities of whaleborje were lying 

 about on the shore, and I would like to have seen the expression of one 

 of our fashionable ladies when viewing this whalebone and thinking of 

 the delicate pieces of the same material in a prepared condition destined 

 to give a slender appearance to her waist, l^o doubt she would have 

 characterized this sight as simply horrible. 



, In a large shed the whales are cut to pieces. After all the fat has 

 been removed they are floated to the shed and hoisted up by means of 

 a windlass on an inclined plane. Here the dissecting process begins. 

 The flesh which still remains is cut ofl" to serve as guano, and the bones 

 are taken out and crushed, to become a fertilizer. Prior to this, how- 

 ever, the entrails are removed — the only part which is of no use — tied 

 together witH ropes, and laid at anchor in the harbor till a sufficient 

 quantity has accumulated. Then a steamer takes them in tow and sails 

 out into the open Polar Sea, where they are loosened from the steamer 

 and left to serve as delicious food for different fish. 



We wandered farther, again on terra Jirma, which, however, was any- 

 thing but firm. Supporting ourselves with our umbrellas, we slowly 

 slid forward, carefully placing one foot before the other. Woe unto 

 him who fell as he would inevitably be lost. All the roads leading 

 through the establishment, which has almost the appearance of a small 

 town, were completely soaked with train-oil and grease. To "step into 

 train-oil" — a proverbial phrase with us — is here not only possible, but 

 even pardonable. It might happen to any one of our number, for we 

 were literally wading in a mire of dirt and grease. 



We first visited the train-oil warehouse, where about 1,000 barrels of 

 train-oil were stowed away ; and thence we went to the guano factory. 

 Here all the meat — everything which is not fat— is turned to guano, by 

 being dried and pulverized. The residue of the fat which has been fried 

 out is likewise utilized in this manner. From here we went into the 

 bone-mill, where the bones are crushed to powder; and finally we vis- 

 ited the trying-house, which was one of the principal objects of interest. 

 It is an enormously long building, or rather shed, having a roof to keep 

 out the rain, its floor being below the surface of the ground and resem- 

 bling a cellar. In this cellar many small fires were burning, which make 

 the ceiling very warm. The entire building forms one large room or 

 hall ; on the warm floor lies the fat, cut into innumerable small pieces 

 and piled up to the height of 2 or 3 feet. The whole mass of fat is seeth- 

 ing and bubbling, and every now and then a man stirs it with a large 

 shovel and turns it upside down; but the smell! Along one side of 

 the building, whose floor slightly slants in that direction, there runs a 

 trough into which the train-oil flows, and which conducts it to large 

 basins, where it is rectified. More we did not wisli, and actually were 



