252 THE OCEAN. 
On his reaching the surface, the other boats infix 
their harpoons, while at the same instant the former 
harpooner thrusts deeply his steel lance into the 
body, and “Stern all!” again resounds. 
Now comes the most dangerous part of the busi- 
ness; the Whale is in his “flurry,” or last agony; 
he dashes hither and thither, snaps convulsively with 
his huge jaws, rolls over and over, coiling the line 
around his body, or leaps completely out of the 
water. The boats are often upset, sometimes broken 
into fragments, and the men wounded or drowned. 
Now the crimson blood is spouted from the blow- 
hole, and falls in showers around; the poor animal 
whirls rapidly round in unconsciousness, in a por- 
tion of a circle, rolls over on its side, and is still in 
death. 
The huge body is now towed to the ship; a hole 
is cut into the blubber near the head, into which 
a strong hook is inserted; a difficult and dangerous 
operation. A strong tension is then applied to this 
hook, and by it the blubber is hoisted up, as it is 
gradually cut by the spades in a spiral strip, going 
round and round the body. As this strip or band of 
blubber is pulled off, the body of course revolves, until 
the stripping reaches “the small,” when it will turn 
no more. The head, which at the commencement 
of the process was cut off and secured astern, is 
now hoisted into a perpendicular position, the front 
of the muzzle opened, and the spermaceti dipped 
out of the “case” by a bucket at the end of a pole. 
The “junk” is then cut into oblong pieces, and the 
remainder of the head, with the carcass, cut adrift. 
