been about fourteen feet high. The head was
of great size; it was nearly a third of the length of the whole
creature, and about nine feet deep. The head alone contained no less
than a ton, or ten large barrels, of spermaceti. The dead whale was
towed alongside the ship. The head was cut off, and secured astern,
that the oil might be dipped out of it. Hooks were then made fast to
each end of the body. Men, with ropes round their waists, and with
spades in their hands, go down on the body of the whale. A large blunt
hook is then lowered at the end of a tackle. The man near the head
begins cutting off a strip of the blubber, or the coating of flesh which
covers the body. The hook is put into the end of the strip, and hoisted
up; and as the end turns towards the tail, the body of the whale turns
round and round, as the strip of blubber is wound off. When this is
done, the carcase is cast loose, and the head is emptied, and let go
also. On the deck are large cauldrons; the blubber is cut up into small
pieces, and boiled in them. Part of the blubber serves as fuel. Taking
off the blubber is called "cutting in," and boiling it, "trying out."
At night, when "trying out" generally goes on, the deck of a whale-ship
has a strange and wild look. The red glare of the fires is thrown on
the wild, and I may say, savage-looking crew, as they stand round the
cauldrons, stripped to the waist, their faces black with smoke, the
large cutting-out knives in their hands, or the prongs with which they
hook out the blubber, all working away with might and main; for all are
interested in getting the work done. The crew of a whale-ship share in
the profits of a voyage, and all therefore are anxious to kill as many
whales as possible. There is no bad smell in trying out, and the work
is cleaner than might be expected.

The ship was very nearly full, that is, our barrels were nearly full of
oil, and the crew were beginning to talk of the voyage homeward, and of
the pleasures of the shore, when one night as the watch below, to which
I belonged, was asleep, we were awakened by the fearful cry of "Breakers
ahead!" followed by a grinding noise and a shock which made the whole
ship quiver through every timber. We rushed on deck. She was hard and
fast on a coral reef.

STORY TWO, CHAPTER 7.

"Hold on for your lives," shouted the captain as a huge wave, dimly seen
through the gloom of night, rolled on towards us. It broke with fe