Chapter 15 No.15

In Which We "Strike On"

Belly uppermost the huge whale (its actual length was seventy-three feet) was fastened "stem and stern" along the starboard side of the Scarboro. The first operation of butchering a whale-if it be a baleener-is to secure the whalebone. This is a difficult job as I very soon saw. The thick, hard, horny substance must be se