34 A BOOK OF WHALES 



a rule some way behind the front of the head, except 

 in the Sperm whale. This is in accordance with the 

 aquatic life. We see in such diverse types as the 

 Crocodile and the Hippopotamus analogous arrange- 

 ments of the nostrils, which allow of the animal 

 coming to the surface to breathe, and at the same 

 time exposing the minimum of its person to possible 

 enemies. 



The blowing or spouting of a whale is, of course, 

 the act of expiration ; it takes place, as the whale 

 reaches the surface or just before, after an immersion 

 more or less prolonged. But the real nature of this 

 process has received more than one false interpreta- 

 tion. Milton wrote and probably many believe with 

 him at the present day of the whale who "at his 

 gills draws in and at his trunk spouts out a sea." 

 Olaus Magnus figures the spouting of a very large 

 whale as a means of offence. His cut represents 

 what may be a Sperm whale, maybe by reason of 

 the teeth in the lower jaw only ; a quite unneces- 

 sary frill of spines surrounds the head. But there 

 are two spouts which overwhelm a ship whose bul- 

 warks the whale has seized in his jaws. " The 

 Physeter," observes this writer, whose Latin we 

 attempt to translate, " raises itself above the masts 

 of the ships and belches forth draughts of ocean 

 from its blow holes in such a way that it overwhelms 

 with this rainy cloud even the strongest ships, or 

 exposes the sailors to the greatest danger." The 

 older naturalists, including the archbishop from whom 

 we have just quoted, regarded the blow holes as 



