BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISII COMMISSION. 255 



disproportionately large, for it takes up one-third of its entire body. The 

 mouth resembles a cave in which a company of twelve persons could 

 easily find room. It may well be imagined what a strong current is 

 reated in the water when the whale opens its mouth, carrying myriads 

 of living beings into the open jaws of the monster. 



There are different kinds of whales. They arc found in nearly all parts 

 of the ocean, and everywhere they appear quick in their movements. 

 It is of course understood that they do not live in the immediate neigh- 

 borhood of the coast, for such monsters require a great deal of space ; 

 and in shallow waters they are as much exposed to the danger of found- 

 ering as ships. Whenever such an event takes place, it gives rise to a 

 terrible spectacle. The whale begins to struggle violently in order to 

 get free ; the water is lashed into a seething foam by the desperate 

 tossing of its tail ; and for a great distance the air resounds with the 

 loud noise of the struggle. All these endeavors have frequently no 

 other result than to cast the unfortunate animal still higher on the shore, 

 where it falls into a sort of torpor and finally dies. 



Under the skin of the whale there is a thick layer of fat, from which, 

 by pressure or warmth, an oily liquid flows. This liquid, known as 

 train-oil, is used for many purposes, and from a single whale sometimes 

 a hundred and twenty tons of train-oil are obtained. No wonder that 

 these animals are so eagerly sought after, dangerous though this chase 

 will always be ! How great is man in creation ! He engages in combat 

 with this powerful monster, which, by a single blow with its tail, can cast 

 a boat with all its crew high up into the air like a ball. " To me," man 

 says, " belongs this immense animal with its huge body and all the oil 

 it contains! The monster may crush my boat like a nut-shell, if it has 

 the chance; but in spite of this I shall approach it so close that my hand 

 shall deal the blow which ends its life!" And thus it really happens. 



IL — The sea is more densely populated than the land. 



So far we have only given attention to large animals ; but if we ex- 

 amine every living being we must say that, as far as the number of its 

 inhabitants is concerned, the water by far surpasses the land. Is there 

 among the land animals any which are found in as large numbers as 

 the herring and the codfish, which for centuries and centuries have 

 been caught by hundreds of millions without any apparent diminution 

 of their number? 



The farther north we go the fewer is the number of living beings on 

 land; the faculty of growth seems to diminish, the plants shrink, and 

 gradually animals become scarcer and scarcer. The sea, on the other 

 hand, is always full of life ; and in latitudes where the soil, frozen 

 nearly all the year round, does not yield any harvest to man, he finds 

 ample compensation for this in the fisheries, for the water which laves 

 these northern shores contains such an abundance of provisions that it 

 can never be exhausted. 



