398 MAMMALIA-WHALE. 



they remain a longer time at the bottom, and afford a smaller quantity 

 of oil. As in the common whale, the head makes a third part of its bulk, 

 so in this species the head is so large as to make one half of the whole. 

 Their throats are much wider than those of the common whale, as may be 

 judged from the fact, that the remains of sharks more than twelve feet long 

 have been found in their stomachs. The cachalot is as destructive among 

 the lesser fishes as the whale is harmless ; and can at one gulp swallow a 

 shoal of fishes down its enormous gullet. Linnaeus tells us that this fish 

 pursues and terrifies the dolphins and porpoises so much, as often to drive 

 them on shore. 



But, how formidable soever this fish may be to its fellows of the deep, it 

 is by far the most valuable, and the most sought after by man ; as it con- 

 tains two very valuable drugs, spermaceti and ambergris. The whole oil 

 of this fish is very easily convertible into spermaceti. This is performed by 

 boiling it with a ley of potash, and hardening it in the manner of soap. 

 Candles are now made of it, which are substituted for wax, and sold much 

 cheaper. 



As to the ambergris, which is sometimes found in this whale, it was long 

 considered as a substance found floating on the surface of the sea ; but time, 

 that reveals the secrets of the mercenary, has discovered that it chiefly 

 belongs to this animal. The name, which has been improperly given to 

 the former substance, seems more justly to belong to this; for the ambergris 

 is found in the place where the seminal vessels are usually situated in other 

 animals. It is found in a bag of three or four feet long, in round lumps, 

 from one to twenty pounds weight, floating in a fluid rather thinner than 

 oil, and of a yellowish color. There are never seen more than four at a time 

 in one of these bags ; and that which Weighed twenty pounds, and which 

 was the largest ever seen, Avas found single. These balls of ambergris are 

 not found in all fishes of this kind, but chiefly in the oldest and strongest. 



The blunt headed cachalot is fifty-four feet in length. Its greatest cir- 

 cumference is just beyond the eyes, and is thirty feet. The upper jaw is 

 five feet longer than the lower, which is ten feet. The head is above one 

 third the size of the fish. The end of the upper jaw is blunt, and near nine 

 feet high ; the spout-hole placed near the end of it. The teeth are placed 

 in the lower jaw, twenty-three on each side, all pointing outwards ; and, in 

 the upper jaw, opposite, are a number of holes to receive them when the 

 mouth is closed . They are about eighteen inches long. 



The spermaceti cachalot is found in greatest abundance in the Pacific 

 ocean, where large numbers of them are annually killed by the American 

 and other whalers, for the sake of their oil and spermaceti. 



The spermaceti cachalot is gregarious, and herds are frequently seen con- 

 taining two hundred or more individuals. 



The mode of attacking these animals, is as follows : Whenever a number 

 of them are seen, four boats, each provided with two or three lines and 



