The neck of a sperm whale, if he can be said to have {78} a neck, is about the thickest part of him. It may be eleven or twelve feet through, or even more. It is here that his head is to be cut off, and the junction of the vertebra with the head must be found far within the mass of flesh; found very exactly, if the mate is to make a good clean job of it. The foremost scarf, if the cutting has been done as it should be done, marks the place where the mate must begin his cut to sever the head. Mr. Wallet, having paused ostentatiously, for the purpose of showing his righteous annoyance at the slowness of Mr. Tilton and Mr. Snow—they did not seem put out by this show of annoyance, but amused—Mr. Wallet, I say, having thrown out his chest for a minute or two, took up the cutting of the foremost scarf, and Mr. Brown joined him at it. The cutting was soon done as far down as the men could get at it. Azevedo, Mr. Tilton’s boatsteerer, was then lowered on one of the blocks of the cutting-falls, and stepped off upon the carcass. He had woolen socks upon his feet, I noticed. I noticed this, as he was accustomed to go barefoot, as were the crew pretty generally. I learned that woolen socks were supposed to give him a surer footing than anything else. He had a monkey-rope also, although he would have gone without it if the captain would let him; but if he slipped in between the whale and the ship he would be a goner. He stood or stepped about on the body with apparent carelessness, although he did not let go his hold on the falls. My heart was in my mouth for fear that he would slip off among the swarming sharks, but he paid no attention to them, except to push aside with his foot one which had come too close. He had had long experience, and told me afterward that there was little to fear from the sharks as long as the whale was there. The gulls, too, and other scavengers of the air, had gathered, and there was a wheeling, screaming flock of them over my head. We were not so very far offshore. Attached to the lower end of the cutting-falls was a {79} gigantic iron hook. This hook Azevedo fitted into the hole cut through the blubber. The blubber of a whale is his skin, a peculiar cellular and fibrous structure containing the oil, and it is from five to twelve inches thick, varying with the size of the whale and the place on his body that it comes from. The blubber of the right whale is thicker. It is thickest on the back, less thick on the sides, and thinnest on his belly. On the shoulder it is very tough. Although the sea was not high, it was hard work getting the hook in place, and Azevedo grunted and sweated as he squatted or kneeled on one knee on the carcass, and the seas washed over his legs and wet him to the waist. But he got the hook in place at last, with the help of a long knife. Then he rose to his feet, holding to the falls with one hand, and gave the word to heave.