CHAPTER V. 



THE HUNTING OF WHALES 



THE economic products of whales are (not in 

 order of importance) : (i) The flesh, (2) the 

 bones, (3) the whalebone, and (4) the oil derived from 

 the blubber.* It is for these substances that they are 

 hunted. 



The first two need not detain us long. The flesh 

 of the Caaing whale, as noticed on page 28, is utilised 

 by the inhabitants of the Orkneys as food, and that 

 of various other whales is eaten, but it is not an 

 article of at all general consumption. The bones as 

 well as the flesh can be and are utilised, in the case 

 of stranded whales, for manure ; and the ribs have 

 been at various times and by different peoples used 

 to build huts with. Nearchus relates how the natives 

 of the Mediterranean built houses of these bones, and 

 structures of the same kind are illustrated by Olaus 

 Magnus. 



The oil of whales is derived from the blubber, 

 which, as already said, forms a thick coating imme- 

 diately underlying the skin. Besides, there is in 



* Ambergris, a product of the Sperm whale only, is dealt with below 

 on page 197. Something has already been said of whalebone. (Supra, 

 p. So.) 



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