CHAPTER 77

  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.

  *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.

  The lower subdivided part, called the junk, is one immense honeycomb

of oil, formed by the crossing and recrossing, 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 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 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 lining 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.