AT SEA: ON THE WHALING GROUNDS 145 



equipped with dozens of slabs of whalebone, with a hairy 

 growth on the outer edge of each slab. In swimming along 

 with the mouth open great quantities of water and brit are 

 taken in until the cavity is entirely filled. Then the jaws are 

 closed and the water allowed to drain out 5 but the hairy growth 

 acts as a sieve which retains the brit until it can be swallowed. 



The sperm whale has a single spout-hole near the forward 

 extremity of the head, from which the thick spout, or exhala- 

 tion, is thrown forward at an angle of about forty-five degrees j 

 while the right whale, the most important species of the 

 Mystacoceti, exhales perpendicularly through two spout-holes 

 located on top of the body. So powerful is the exhalation that 

 the vapor accompanying it rises several feet into the air. In 

 both species the tail is large, strong, and capable of dealing ter- 

 rific blows j though in the case of the sperm whale the jaws con- 

 stitute a weapon fully as formidable.^ 



Only four species of cetacea were important enough com- 

 mercially to repay systematic hunting on any scale. These 

 comprised the following: the sperm whale, or cachalot, which 

 was found principally in the tropical and sub-tropical waters of 

 the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans; the right whale, 

 hUnted over areas of great extent in the temperate zones of 

 both the northern and southern hemispheres j the bowhead, or 

 Arctic whale, which lived in the frigid waters near the North 

 Pole, and was pursued chiefly in Davis Straits, Behring Straits, 

 and the Sea of Okhotsk; and the humpback, which was occa- 

 sionally sought in certain coastal waters of the South Pacific. 



With the habits and instincts of these species the whaleman 

 was quite familiar — for success in the chase demanded a thor- 

 ough knowledge of the probable actions of the victim. Easily 

 the most interesting and most spirited of the four was the 

 sperm whale. The habits of this animal enriched the vocabu- 



2 Only those phases of the whale's structure and function which were of 

 immediate importance to the whaleman are suggested here. For further ma- 

 terial on this subject see the following works: Flower, W. H., and Lydekker, 

 R., "Introduction to the Study of Mammals, Living and Extinct"; Beddard, 



F. E., "A Book of Whales"; Scammon, C. M., "Marine Mammals of the North- 

 western Coast of North America"; Beale, T., "The Natural History of the 

 Sperm Whale" ; Scoresby, W., "An Account of the Arctic Regions" ; Goode, 



G. B., (Editor), "Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States"; and 

 Allen, G. M., "The Whalebone Whales of New England." 



