WHALERS AND WHALING, 



Whales vary in size, of course, but they are often sixty and 

 seventy feet long. Some of those of the northwest yield two hundred 

 barrels of oil apiece. The huge tongue is a mass of white fat, and the 

 sailors say it looks like a great white satin cushion A single tongue 

 has been known to yield twenty-five barrels of oil. 



To the uninitiated, the whale's anatomy seems ridiculously out 

 of proportion. Here is a monster with a tongue weighing fifteen hun- 

 dred or a thousand pounds, and an ear so small that the opening will 

 hardly admit a knitting needle, while its eyes are no larger than those 

 of a cow. The whalebone of commerce is found in the mouth, in 

 long flat slabs, about ten inches wide where they join the skull, and 

 from eight to ten feet long, tapering to a point at the end. These 

 slabs are set very close together something like the slats of a Venetian 

 blind, and hang perpendicularly downwards from the roof of the mouth 

 which is completely filled with them, the whole quantity in a large 



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