a ton, or upwards of ten large barrels of spermaceti, would be
taken out. The throat, he asserted, was large enough to swallow a man,
though the tongue was very small. The mouth was lined throughout with a
pearly white membrane, which, when the whale lies below the surface with
its lower jaw dropped down, attracts the unwary fish and other
sea-creatures on which it feeds. When a number swim into the trap, it
closes its jaw, and swallows the whole at a gulp.

"You see, Walter," observed the mate, "the sperm whale differs very much
in this respect from the Greenland whale, which has a remarkably small
gullet, and a quantity of whalebone in its gills, through which it
strains its food, so that nothing can get into its mouth which it cannot
swallow. Now, the sperm whale has no whalebone in its jaws, and could
manage to take in a fish of fifty pounds, or, for that matter, one of a
hundred pounds, provided it had no sharp prickles on its back.

"Now, look at the eyes, how small they are, compared to the size of the
animal. They have got eyelids, though; and they are placed in the most
convenient spot, at the widest part of the head, so that it can see
around it in every direction. Just behind the eyes are the openings of
the ears; but they are very small,--not big enough to put in the tip of
your little finger. Just astern of the mouth are the swimming paws; not
that the whale makes much use of them, for it works itself on by its
flukes, but they serve to balance the body, and assist the female in
supporting her young."

While Walter had been looking at the whales, the crew had been busy in
preparing for the operation of "cutting in," or taking off the blubber.
Huge caldrons, or "try-pots," had been got up on deck, with pans below
them for holding the fire.

The first operation was to cut off the head; which being done, it was
hauled astern and carefully secured with the snout downwards. Tackles
being secured to the maintop, were brought to the windlass, when one of
the crew being lowered on to the body of the whale with a huge hook in
his hand, he fixed it into a hole cut for the purpose in the "blanket,"
or outer covering, near the head. Others being lowered to assist him,
they commenced cutting with sharp spades a strip between two and three
feet broad, in a spiral direction round the body. This strip, as it was
hoisted up by the tackles, caused the body to perform a rotatory motion,
till the whole of the stri