An arrangement was
speedily arrived at to give him L20 per tun for whatever oil he
made. They parted on the best of terms with each other, and as
soon as we cut the carcass loose the Maories made fast, to it,
speedily beaching it in a convenient spot near where they had
previously erected a most primitive try-works.
That afternoon, after the head was inboard, the skipper thought
he would go ashore and see how they were getting on. I was so
fortunate as to be able to accompany him. When we arrived at the
spot, we found them working as I have never seen men work, except
perhaps the small riggers that at home take a job--three or four
of them--to bend or unbend a big ship's sails for a lump sum to
be paid when the work is done. They attacked the carcass
furiously, as if they had a personal enmity against it, chopping
through the massive bones and rending off huge lumps of the flesh
with marvellous speed. They had already laid open the enormous
cavity of the abdomen, and were stripping the interminable
intestines of their rich coating of fat. In the maw there were,
besides a large quantity of dismembered squid of great size, a
number of fish, such as rock-cod, barracouta, schnapper, and the
like, whose presence there was a revelation to me.
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