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With the spermaceti to be extracted from the "case" of the cachalot, they could lay in a stock that would last them for many a day. They had their six casks, five of them still empty. By using a couple of them to contain the oil, the raft would still be sufficiently buoyant to carry all hands, and not a bit less worthy of the sea.
True, at one period, as to some extent at the present day, large fleets of whalemen cruised for spermaceti upon what some seamen call the Enchanted Ground.
I supposed at first it might be a spermaceti whale, for numbers used to play round the island at certain seasons, and I used to watch their blowing and their gambols, if I may use the term, and Jackson, often told me long stories about the whale-fisheries; but a ray of the setting sun made the object appear white, and I ran for the glass, and made out that it was a boat or a very small vessel, with a sail out, and running before the gale right down to the island.
After this the breast should be dressed with a little spermaceti ointment, or a composition of white wax and olive oil, which is mild and gentle. If this do not answer the purpose, take four ounces of diachylon, two ounces of olive oil, and one ounce of vinegar.
I learnt from another captain the particulars of an accident that had happened to one of his companions, which shows the dangers whale-fishers are exposed to, and is a singular example of a providential escape. A North American, Captain Smith, sailed in the year 1820 in a three-masted ship, the Albatross, for the South Sea, in pursuit of the spermaceti whale.
The system was soon introduced into England; and one of the first acts of the Northern Lights’ Board, so early as 1786, was to substitute reflectors in place of coast-lights, which till then had been the only beacons on the Scotch coast. In the improved lights the best spermaceti oil and the Argand lamp have been introduced.
Before resuming the thread of my narrative, I must not omit to mention, that in the head of the sperm whale there is a large cavity or hole called the "case", which contains pure oil that does not require to be melted, but can be baled at once into casks and stowed away. This is the valuable spermaceti from which the finest candles are made.
Like all Chinamen, Hoang was true to his promises, and he had already set apart three and a half barrels of spermaceti, ten barrels of oil, and some twenty pounds of bone as the schooner's share in the transaction. There was no discussion over the matter. He called their attention to the discharge of his obligations, and hurried away to summon his men aboard and get the junk under way again.
In thoughts of the visions of the night, I saw long rows of angels in paradise, each with his hands in a jar of spermaceti. Now, while discoursing of sperm it behooves to speak of other things akin to it, in the business of preparing the sperm whale for the try-works.
Having thus placed her in bed, let her take a draught of burnt white wine, having a drachm of spermaceti melted therein. The best vervain is also singularly good for a woman in this condition, boiling it in what she either eats or drinks, fortifying the womb so exceedingly that it will do it more good in two days, than any other thing does in double that time, having no offensive taste.
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