482 MR THEODORE E. SALVESEN ON THE 



SPECIES. 



The following are the only species of whales which are hunted in the South 

 Atlantic : 



The southern Right whale (Balsena australis) (PL II. fig. 2) is a sub-antarctic species, 

 and has a length of about 45 to 50 feet, the baleen measuring up to 7 feet in length and 

 weighing from 4 to 5 cwts. A full-grown specimen in good condition will yield from 60 

 to 70 barrels of oil. The price of baleen being now so low, no special efforts are made 

 to kill it, and the annual catch varies from ten to fifteen only. 



The Blue whale (Bal&noptera sibbaldii) is the largest living animal in the world, 

 and may attain a length of 100 feet, and yields on an average 70 to 80 barrels of oil. 



The Finner whale (Balamoptera musculus or physalus) (Pis. III. figs. 1, 2, IV '. 

 fig. 1) has a length from 50 to 70 feet, and its yield of oil averages 35 to 50 barrels. 



The Fish whale or Seihval (Balasnoptera borecdis) is the smallest of the whales killed 

 in the south, measuring only from 25 to 40 feet, and yielding 10 to 15 barrels. It is 

 thus of very small value, and is only pursued when there is a scarcity of the larger kinds. 



The Humpback whale (Megaptera hoops) (Pis. IV. fig. 2, V. fig. 1) varies in length 

 from 40 to 50 feet. Its oil contents may be reckoned from 25 to 35 barrels. 



The Cachalot or Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) has a length of from 50 to 

 60 feet. It has no baleen or fanners, but from 58 to 64 teeth in its lower jaw. Its 

 head constitutes about one-third of the whole animal, and contains about 30 barrels of 

 spermaceti and sperm oil, the body yielding a similar quantity of oil. This whale is 

 seldom met with in the waters round the Falkland Islands and dependencies, as its 

 natural habitat is in warmer zones. 



REDUCTION. 



With whaling by the method just described, a separate factory for the reduction of 

 the whale carcase is a necessity. The whaling steamers have no reducing plant on 

 board, and tow the carcases to the harbour where the company's factory is situated. 

 These factories are of two kinds the shore factory and the floating factory. 



When the whale is towed to a fully equipped shore factory (Pis. V. fig. 2, VI. figs. 

 1, 2) it is hauled up a slip on to the flenching platform (PI. III. fig. 1). The baleen or 

 whale bone is first removed, after which the whale is flenched by cutting off the blubber 

 in strips, which are passed through a cutting machine and then conveyed by elevator to 

 large open iron vats, where the oil is extracted by means of steam. The tongue and 

 kidney fat are dealt with in a similar way, but the flenched carcase has to be chopped 

 and sawn into suitable pieces before being conveyed and stowed into large boilers, where 

 the contents are subjected to a steam pressure of 60 Ibs. per square inch for 12 to 15 

 hours continuously. During this period the oil contained in the bones and flesh is run 

 off into clearing tanks. The digesters thereafter are emptied of their contents, which 

 are passed into drying kilns fired by coke, and finally the dried residue is run through 



