TEE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 89 



board watches, and tfie watches on deck and below are pro- 

 longed to six hours each. The works are started on the oil 

 of the head, which is termed " head matter." As this was 

 our first whale, it was necessary to use wood as fuel, until 

 we could get the brown doughnut-looking " scraps " out of ■ 

 the remains of the blubber after the oil is boiled out. These 

 scraps are the proper fuel of- the try-works, and are al- 

 ways more than sufficient to cook the oil of the whale, so 

 that a quantity remains, and is carried forward to start the 

 works on the next. At six bells in the evening, one watch 

 of tired men hurry below, " to sleep, perchance to dream ;" 

 and the other, just as wearied, have before them six hours 

 of labor. The mainyard is aback, mainsail furled, topsails 

 reefed, and the ship rolls lazily on a drifting course to lee- 

 ward. The duties of the watch are thus divided : One man 

 is in the blubber-room with knife and spade to cleanse the 

 skinny parts and flesh from the blanket, and to reduce it into 

 long narrow pieces, say six by twenty-four inches, termed-, 

 " horse - pieces." These are tossed to the deck above, and 

 conveyed by another man to the " mincing - horse," where 

 they are sliced into thin leaves, which adhere by the tough 

 "inner integument, and are called " books." In this form the 

 blubber passes to the try-pots. The duty of the boat-steer- 

 ers and the mate, who heads the watch, is to attend to this 

 boiling, as the value of the oil is materially affected by the 

 care used in preserving its light color. 



The night scene on the deck of a whaler while she is 

 engaged in trying-out is weird -like in the extreme. The 

 black smoke from the burning scraps, lighted by the redi 

 flames which issue from the flues ; the tracery of masts,' 

 spars-, and sails, sometimes brightly lit up as in the roll of 

 the, ship the boiling oil ovei"flows into the furnaces,' and 

 sends a broad flame half-mast high ; the blood-red reflections 

 from the sea-caps ; the diabolical appearance of the stokers 



