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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



A BLUE WHALE : VANCOUVER 



Specimens of this whale have been measured which reached a length of 87 feet, and, in all 

 probability, weighed as much as 75 tons (see page 427) 



spells" when whales were being cut in, 

 and every soul was at his work until the 

 whistle blew for dinner at noon. 



A heavy wire cable was made fast 

 about the posterior part of one of the 

 whales just in front of the tail, or 

 "flukes," and the winch started. The 

 cable straightened out, tightened, and be- 

 came as rigid as a bar of steel. Slowly 

 foot after foot of the wire was wound 

 in and the enormous carcass, weighing 

 perhaps 45 tons, was drawn out of the 

 water upon the slip. 



One of the Japanese (for men of six 

 nationalities — Chinese, Japanese, Nor- 

 wegians, Newfoundlanders, Indians, and 

 Americans — are employed at these west- 

 coast stations ) scrambled up the whale's 

 side, and balancing himself on the 

 smooth surface by the aid of his long 

 knife, made his way forward to sever 

 at the "elbow" the great side fin, or 

 flipper, 16 feet in length. 



THE WHALES ARE PEELED LIKE AN 

 ORANGE 



Before the carcass was half out of the 

 water other cutters, or "flensers," as they 

 are called, had begun to make longitudi- 

 nal incisions through the blubber along 

 the breast, side, and back, and from the 

 flukes the entire length of the body to 

 the head. The cable was then made 

 fast to the blubber at the chin, the winch 

 started, and the great layer of fat 

 stripped off exactly as one would peel 

 an orange. When the upper side had 

 been denuded of its blubber covering, 

 the whale was turned over by means of 

 the "canting winch" and the other sur- 

 face flensed in the same manner. 



The blubber is a layer of fat of vary- 

 ing thickness which covers the entire 

 body of all whales, porpoises, and dol- 

 phins and keeps the animal warm. It 

 acts exactly as the feathers of birds or 

 the hair of land mammals — as a non- 

 conductor to prevent the natural heat of 



