282 A BOOK OF WHALES 



garment is hoisted from the mast of a boat; the inhabi- 

 tants then rush to their boats, and drawing together 

 shape a half-circle round the herd ; stones are thrown 

 into the water, by means of which the herd may be 

 driven in any direction. They are then driven in 

 shore to a whale voe, which is a bay with a level 

 sloping bottom of mud or sand, preferably loose, 

 so that the water becomes muddy and the whales 

 cannot see their way. When the herd has arrived 



j 



at the mouth of this bay the boats arrange themselves 

 in three lines, so that if one is broken through the 

 animals may be driven back by the second, and so on. 

 The whales are then killed with lances. The value of 

 an average whale is $ js. 6d., of which the oil (one 

 barrel-full) is estimated at 45^. The meat is dried 

 or pickled, and the stomach is dried and made into 

 buoys.* 



Globicephalus scammonii, of Cope,f has a length 

 of 1 5 feet some inches. Colour entirely black. Teeth, 

 8. Pterygoids closely approximated and closely ad- 

 dressed. Inter-maxilke not projecting over margins 

 of maxillae. 



This species, which inhabits the North Pacific, is 

 said by Scammon to be "generally found wherever 

 Sperm whales resort." Probably this is due to their 

 feeding on the same kind of food as their gigantic 



* "Whale-Fishing in the Faroe Islands," an essay in Fish and 

 Fisheries. Edinburgh, Blackwood, 1883. 

 t P. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1869, p. 21. 



