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Nippers . Strictly this word is not indigenous to the whale’s vocabulary . But as applied by whalemen , it becomes so . A whaleman’s nipper is a short firm strip of tendinous stuff cut from the tapering part of Leviathan’s tail : it averages an inch in thickness , and for the rest , is about the size of the iron part of a hoe . Edgewise moved along the oily deck , it operates like a leathern squilgee ; and by nameless blandishments , as of magic , allures along with it all impurities . But to learn all about these recondite matters , your best way is at once to descend into the blubber - room , and have a long talk with its inmates . This place has previously been mentioned as the receptacle for the blanket - pieces , when stript and hoisted from the whale . When the proper time arrives for cutting up its contents , this apartment is a scene of terror to all tyros , especially by night . On one side , lit by a dull lantern , a space has been left clear for the workmen . They generally go in pairs , — a pike - and - gaffman and a spade - man . The whaling - pike is similar to a frigate’s boarding - weapon of the same name . The gaff is something like a boat - hook . With his gaff , the gaffman hooks on to a sheet of blubber , and strives to hold it from slipping , as the ship pitches and lurches about . Meanwhile , the spade - man stands on the sheet itself , perpendicularly chopping it into the portable horse - pieces . This spade is sharp as hone can make it ; the spademan’s feet are shoeless ; the thing he stands on will sometimes irresistibly slide away from him , like a sledge . If he cuts off one of his own toes , or one of his assistants ’ , would you be very much astonished ? Toes are scarce among veteran blubber - room men . CHAPTER 95 . The Cassock . Had you stepped on board the Pequod at a certain juncture of this post - mortemizing of the whale ; and had you strolled forward nigh the windlass , pretty sure am I that you would have scanned with no small curiosity a very strange , enigmatical object , which you would have seen there , lying along lengthwise in the lee scuppers . Not the wondrous cistern in the whale’s huge head ; not the prodigy of his unhinged lower jaw ; not the miracle of his symmetrical tail ; none of these would so surprise you , as half a glimpse of that unaccountable cone , — longer than a Kentuckian is tall , nigh a foot in diameter at the base , and jet - black as Yojo , the ebony idol of Queequeg . And an idol , indeed , it is ; or , rather , in old times , its likeness was . Such an idol as that found in the secret groves of Queen Maachah in Judea ; and for worshipping which , King Asa , her son , did depose her , and destroyed the idol , and burnt it for an abomination at the brook Kedron , as darkly set forth in the 15th chapter of the First Book of Kings .
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