ch would of itself have caused them
to remain at their present moorings for a considerable period of time.

During the intervals of their protracted vigil, they had not been
inattentive to the objects immediately around them: and the carcass of
the whale had come in for a share of their consideration. A
consultation had been held upon it, which had resulted in a
determination not to leave the leviathan until they had rendered its
remains, or at least a portion of them, useful for some future end.

The old whaleman knew that under that dark epidermis over which, for two
days, they had been recklessly treading, there were many valuable
substances that might be made available to their use and comfort, on
board the _Catamaran_.

First, there was the "blubber," which, if boiled or "tried," would, from
the body of an old bull like that, yield at the very least, a hundred
barrels of oil.

This they cared nothing about: since they had neither the pots to boil,
the casks to hold, nor the craft to carry it,--even if rendered into oil
for the market.

But Ben knew that within the skull of the _cachalot_ there was a deposit
of pure sperm, that needed no preparation, which would be found of
service to them in a way they had already thought of.

This sperm could be reached by simply removing the "junk" which forms
the exterior portion of a _cachalot's_ huge snout, and sinking a shaft
into the skull. Here would, or should, be found a cavity filled with a
delicate cellular tissue, containing ten or a dozen large barrels full
of the purest spermaceti.

They did not stand in need of anything like this quantity. A couple of
casks would suffice for their need; and these they desired to obtain for
that want which had suggested itself to both Snowball and the sailor.
They had been long suffering from the absence of fuel,--not wherewith to
warm themselves,--but as a means of enabling them to cook their food.
They need suffer no longer. With the spermaceti to be extracted from
the "case" of the _cachalot_, they could lay in a stock that would last
them for many a day. They had their six casks,--five of them still
empty. By using a couple of them to contain the oil, the raft would
still be sufficiently buoyant to carry all hands, and not a bit less
worthy of the sea.

Both of these brave men had observed the repugnance with which Lilly
Lalee partook of their raw repasts. Nothing but hunger enabled her to
eat what they could set