.. < chapter lxxvii 2  THE GREAT HEIDELBURGH TUN >


     Now comes the Baling of

the Case.  But to comprehend it aright, you must know something of the

curious internal structure of the thing operated upon.  Regarding the Sperm

whale's head as a solid oblong, you may, on an inclined plane, sideways

divide it into two quoins, whereof the lower is the bony structure, forming

the cranium and jaws, and the upper an unctuous mass wholly free from bones;


     its broad forward end forming the expanded vertical apparent forehead of the

whale.  At the middle of the forehead horizontally subdivide this upper quoin,


     and then you have two almost equal parts, which before were naturally

divided by an internal wall of a thick tendinous substance.  The lower

subdivided part, called the junk, is one immense honeycomb of oil, formed by

the crossing and re-crossing, into ten thousand infiltrated cells, of tough

elastic white fibres throughout its whole extent.  The upper part, known as

the Case, may be regarded as the great Heidelburgh Tun of the Sperm Whale.

And as that famous great tierce is mystically carved in front, so the whale's

vast plaited forehead forms innumerable strange devices for the emblematical

adornment of his wondrous tun.  Moreover, as that of Heidelburgh was always

replenished with the most excellent of the wines of the Rhenish valleys, so

the tun of the whale contains by far the most precious of all his oily

vintages; namely, the highly-prized spermaceti, in its absolutely pure,

limpid, and odoriferous state.  Nor is this precious substance found unalloyed

in any other part of the creature.  Though in life it remains perfectly fluid,


     yet, upon

.. <p 338 >

exposure to the air, after death, it soon begins to concrete; sending forth

beautiful crystalline shoots, as when the first thin delicate ice is just

forming in water.  A large whale's case generally yields about five hundred

gallons of sperm, though from unavoidable circumstances, considerable of it

is spilled, leaks, and dribbles away, or is otherwise irrevocably lost in the

ticklish business of securing what you can.  I know not with what fine and

costly material the heidelburgh Tun was coated within, but in superlative

richness that coating could not possibly have compared with the silken

pearl-colored membrane, like the line of a fine pelisse, forming the inner

surface of the Sperm Whale's case.  It will have been seen that the Heidelburgh

Tun of the Sperm Whale embraces the entire length of the entire top of the

head; and since --as has been elsewhere set forth --the head embraces one third

of the whole length of the creature, then setting that length down at eighty

feet for a good sized whale, you have more than twenty-six feet for the depth

of the tun, when it is lengthwise hoisted up and down against a ship's side.

As in decapitating the whale, the operator's instrument is brought close to

the spot where an entrance is subsequently forced into the spermaceti

magazine; he has, therefore, to be uncommonly heedful, lest a careless,

untimely stroke should invade the sanctuary and wastingly let out its

invaluable contents.  It is this decapitated end of the head, also, which is at


     last elevated out of the water, and retained in that position by the

enormous cutting tackles, whose hempen combinations, on one side, make

quite a wilderness of ropes in that quarter.  Thus much being said, attend

now, I pray you, to that marvellous and --in this particular instance

--almost fatal operation whereby the Sperm Whale's great Heidelburgh Tun is

tapped.

.. <p 337n. >

Quoin is not a Euclidean term.  It belongs to the pure nautical mathematics.

I know not that it has been defined before.  A quoin is a solid which differs

from a wedge in having its sharp end formed by the steep inclination of one

side, instead of the mutual tapering of both sides.

.. <p 339 >