. FIG. ;.—FLENSING A FIXXER WHAI,E MUSCULUS}. THORS\lG, FAROE ISI,.4XDS. whales. Occasionally one of the rarer whales is killed, a Nordcaper [Balcena biscayensis) being brought in this year on July 22. The modern whaler will shoot at any whale over 40 feet in length. After the whale is shot it is speedily hauled alongside the steamer, and the tail flukes cut off to facilitate towing to the station. A steel tube is next stuck into the abdomen and air pumped in to keep the whale afloat, the orifice being stuffed with oakum when the tube is withdrawn. The harpoon is left in the carc
. FIG. ;.—FLENSING A FIXXER WHAI,E MUSCULUS}. THORS\lG, FAROE ISI,.4XDS. whales. Occasionally one of the rarer whales is killed, a Nordcaper [Balcena biscayensis) being brought in this year on July 22. The modern whaler will shoot at any whale over 40 feet in length. After the whale is shot it is speedily hauled alongside the steamer, and the tail flukes cut off to facilitate towing to the station. A steel tube is next stuck into the abdomen and air pumped in to keep the whale afloat, the orifice being stuffed with oakum when the tube is withdrawn. The harpoon is left in the carcass until the whale arrives at the platform, where it is flensed, stripped of its blubber. The dead whales are invariably towed ashore to a whaling station for the extraction of the oil and treatment of the carcass. After arrival at the station the whale is hauled up a slip on to a flensing platform by means of a powerful steam-winch. A Blue whale may weigh up to seventy tons, and is rightly considered a great catch. First, the \'aluable blubber is flensed off by a steam-winch, the flenser having made two or three longitudinal incisions down the whale's side to facilitate the removal of the blubber from the underlying flesh. The blubber is then cut up by a machine like a circular saw into small pieces, which are hoisted up into a gigantic boiler. From the blubber the best oil is obtained. The whale " bone " is now removed from the upper jaw and set aside for subsequent treatment. Now comes the turn of the Faroe islanders. The whaling company is compelled by the terms of its lease to sell to the islanders as much whale meat as they require at a fixed price of ten kroner (los.) per small barrel, and the Faroe men crowd round eagerly to get such a
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