188 OF THE a CUTTING IN ?? 
hook is inserted it is drawn upon by the pullies to 
which it is attached, and a tension being exerted upon 
the fat, or blubber as it is termed, it is then cut by the 
spade in a strip about two or three feet broad, in a spiral 
direction around the body of the whale, which being 
drawn up by means of the windlass acting upon pullies 
which are fixed to the “ main-top/’ it is removed much 
in the same way that a spiral roller or bandage might 
be ; of course as the “ blanket pieces ” ascend, the body 
of the whale performs a rotatory motion, until the 
whole is stripped off to the tail or flukes. The head is 
cut off in the beginning of the process, and is allowed 
to float astern of the ship, but strongly secured, until 
the body has undergone its flaying process, when it is 
hoisted upon end by the pullies, and the end of the case 
being opened, the fluid spermaceti is drawn from it by 
means of a bucket and pole, which is used to force 
the bucket down into the “case,” so as to become filled 
with its valuable contents. The “junk,” which forms, 
when it is cut from .the head, a large wedge-shaped 
mass of cellular substance, having strong ligamentous 
bands intersecting and strengthening its structure, is 
hoisted on board, and quickly cut up into square oblong 
pieces, while the head— after the case has been emptied 
— is let go, and allowed to sink, which it does rapidly 
when its buoyant property, the spermaceti, is removed. 
The lean and shapeless trunk, after the fat has been 
taken from it, is allowed to float away just before the 
operations on the head commence. 
The “ blanket pieces ” which are cut from the long 
