The process of paring and barrelling up the blubber, is termed _making off_, and is performed at leisure times when the crew are not engaged in the pursuit of live whales. The blubber being brought upon deck, the fleshy parts are pared off, and it is then placed, piece by piece, on a block, having three iron spikes in the top to keep it steady; here it is skinned by a harpooner, and is then ready for _chopping_. This operation is performed by the boat-steerers, who cut the blubber into pieces of about one foot long, and three inches square at the ends. When it is _chopped_ they push it off the bench into the _speck trough_, placed by the side of the hatchway, having what is called a _lull bag_ attached to a hole in the bottom for the purpose of letting down the _chopped_ blubber to a tub in the hold. The blubber is afterwards put, piece by piece, into the bung-hole of the casks, which are all fixed for that purpose previous to the vessel’s leaving home. The _Balæna mysticetus_, notwithstanding its immense size, is exposed to the multiplied assaults of various enemies inhabiting its own element. Of these, the most dangerous is said to be the _Physeter microps_, or Black-headed Spermaceti Whale. The voracity of this species is very great. Its ordinary food is the seal; but if it does not find a sufficient quantity of them for its prey, it attacks the common whale, and even the shark, and tears them to pieces. The Sea Unicorn, or _Monodon monoceros_, is another of the whale’s enemies; and it is said that they never meet without engaging in combat. Its immense tusk, or horn, generally gives it a superiority over the whale. Marten gives an account of a combat between the Saw-Fish, _Squalus pristis_, and the Iceland whale, to which he was an eye witness. It was extremely dangerous to approach the field of battle, and his observations were therefore made at a distance. The water was greatly agitated, and rose to an immense height, accompanied with a noise that stunned the ears of the hearers. A fog coming on prevented Marten from ascertaining the result of this direful combat; but he was informed by the sailors that the whale was generally vanquished; and that they kept aloof till such time as the saw-fish, eating the tongue, relinquished the carcass, which they made their prey.