All
this soft, pulpy mass was held together by walls of exceedingly
tough, gristly integrument ("white horse"), which was as
difficult to cut as gutta-percha, and, but for the peculiar
texture, not at all unlike it.
When we had finished separating the junk, there was nearly a foot
of oil on deck in the waist, and uproarious was the laughter when
some hapless individual, losing his balance, slid across the deck
and sat down with a loud splash in the deepest part of the
accumulation.
The lower jaw of this whale measured exactly nineteen feet in
length from the opening of the mouth, or, say the last of the
teeth, to the point, and carried twenty-eight teeth on each side.
For the time, it was hauled aft out of the way, and secured to
the lash-rail. The subsequent proceedings were just the same as
before described, only more so. For a whole week our labours
continued, and when they were over we had stowed below a hundred
and forty-six barrels of mingled oil and spermaceti, or fourteen
and a half tuns.
It was really a pleasant sight to see Abner receiving as if being
invested with an order of merit, the twenty pounds of tobacco to
which he was entitled. Poor fellow! he felt as if at last he
were going to be thought a little of, and treated a little
better.
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