Would that I could keep squeezing that sperm for ever!
For now, since by many prolonged, repeated experiences,
I have perceived that in all cases man must eventually lower,
or at least shift, his conceit of attainable felicity;
not placing it anywhere in the intellect or the fancy;
but in the wife, the heart, the bed, the table, the saddle,
the fire-side; the country; now that I have perceived all this,
I am ready to squeeze case eternally. 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.
First comes white-horse, so called, which is obtained from the tapering
part of the fish, and also from the thicker portions of his flukes.
It is tough with congealed tendons--a wad of muscle--but still contains
some oil. After being severed from the whale, the white-horse
is first cut into portable oblongs ere going to the mincer.
They look much like blocks of Berkshire marble.
Plum-pudding is the term bestowed upon certain fragmentary parts of
the whale's flesh, here and there adhering to the blanket of blubber,
and often participating to a considerable degree in its unctuousness.
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