THE WHITE WHALE 
CHAPTER XCV 
389 
THE TRY-WORKS 
Besides her hoisted boats, an American whaler is outwardly distin- 
guished by her try-works. She presents the curious anomaly of the 
most solid masonry joining with oak and hemp in constituting the 
completed ship. It is as if from the open field a brick-kiln were 
transported to her planks. 
The try-works are planted between the foremast and mainmast, the 
most roomy part of the deck. The timbers beneath are of a peculiar 
strength, fitted to sustain the weight of an almost solid mass of brick 
and mortar, some ten feet by eight square, and five in height. The 
foundation does not penetrate the deck, but the masonry is firmly se- 
cured to the surface by ponderous knees of iron bracing it on all sides, 
and screwing it down to the timbers. On the flanks it is cased with 
wood, and at top completely covered by a large, sloping, battened hatch- 
way. Removing this hatch we expose the great try-pots, two in number, 
and each of several barrels’ capacity. When not in use, they are kept 
remarkably clean. Sometimes they are polished with soapstone and 
sand, till they shine within like silver punchbowls. During the night- 
watches some cynical old sailors will crawl into them and coil them- 
selves away there for a nap. While employed in polishing them — 
one man in each pot, side by side — many confidential communications 
are carried on, over the iron lips. It is a place also for profound 
mathematical meditation. It was in the left hand try-pot of the Pe- 
quod, with the soapstone diligently circling round me, that I was first 
indirectly struck by the remarkable fact, that in geometry all bodies 
gliding along the cycloid, my soapstone for example, will descend from 
any point in precisely the same time. 
Removing the fireboard from the front of the try-works, the bare 
masonry of that side is exposed, penetrated by the two iron mouths of 
the furnaces, directly underneath the pots. These mouths are fitted 
with heavy doors of iron. The intense heat of the fire is prevented 
from communicating itself to the deck, by means of a shallow reservoir 
extending under the entire enclosed surface of the works. By a tunnel 
inserted at the rear, this reservoir is kept replenished with water &s 
