238 3IARINE MA3IMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 



it and the skull -bone; then, cutting across the end of the junk and root of the 

 case, from E to F, completes the process of cutting off the head, which is tempo- 

 rarily made fast to the ship's quarter. The fluke -chain is then hauled in again, 

 and the Lltdober is rolled from the body in the same manner as that of a baleen 

 whale, until coming to the region of the small, when it is unjointed just behind 

 the vent, and the remaining posterior portion of the animal is hoisted on board in 

 one mass. The head, as it is termed, is then hauled to the gangway, and one of 

 the tackles is hooked into the junk -strap at J, and by means of this cutting- 

 tackle purchase, the head is taken in whole, if the whale is under forty barrels ; 

 but if over that size, it is raised sufficiently out of the water to cut the junk from 

 the case, when it is hoisted on deck. The case is then secured by one or both 

 tackles, hove up to the plank -sheer, and an opening is made at its root, of a 

 suitable size to admit the case -bucket, when the oil is bailed out, or the whole 

 case is hove in on deck before being opened, which finishes the cutting -in of a 

 Sperm Whale. 



The entire blubber being now on board, preparations are immediately made for 

 trying -out the oil. The blanket -pieces are cut into horse -pieces, which are about 

 fifteen or eighteen inches long, and six or eight inches in breadth and thickness. 

 Any flesh termed "lean," or "fat-lean," that may adhere to the horse-pieces, is cut 

 off with leaning - knives ; and being thus prepared, the blubber is transported in 



strap -tubs to the mincing -horse — where the 

 ordinary two-handled knife is used — or else 

 i ?=^?=i=;:s^^^g^ ^ jj; taken to the mincin"; machine, where it is 



MINCING KH IFE. 



cut crosswise into slices a cjuarter of an inch 

 to a half inch in thickness; then it goes into a large mincing- tub, which completes 

 its preparation for boiling. From the mincing -tub it is pitched into the try -pots 

 with the blubber- fork, where the oil is extracted by boiling. During this process, 

 the minced blubber is frequently stirred, to prevent it from burning and settling 

 to the bottom of the pots ; and when the scraps are sufficiently browned to show 

 that the oil is well tried out, they are skimmed off with the skimmer into a recep- 

 tacle called the scrap -hopper, and, after the oil drains from them, they furnish an 

 abundant supply of fuel for the fires. 



From the pots, the oil is bailed mth the bailer into a large copper tank 

 called a cooler; from the cooler, it passes through a cock into the deck-pot; and 

 from the deck -pot the casks are filled. When a cask is full, it is rolled off and 

 headed up, and in rough weather it is lashed to the ship's rail for greater secu- 

 rity. The oil, after passing through the cooler and deck -pot, is still very hot, if 



