56 



THE WHALES. 



they continue their course over the 'vasty dee-p ' no 

 matter whether it be day or night. An unprepared 

 observer might imagine he saw in them a gathering 

 of the maddest of water spooks. At last the Whale 

 stops, exhausted, and either rolls in the water in a 

 tired and sluggish manner or rages and beats around. 

 Then the boats can approach it, and this they do, 

 cautiously keeping out of reach of the animal's dan- 

 gerous tail. The crew then try to kill the Whale 

 either with a gun-harpoon or a hand lance, the thin 

 iron blade of which is thrust behind the fin to the 

 depth of about six feet. If the Whale dives again 

 or makes off, the performance is repeated, until it is 

 finally killed or its pursuers are obliged to set it free 

 by cutting the line. If a gun-harpoon or a lance 

 pierces the lungs the Whale spouts blood — it 'hoists 

 the red flag ' — and dies in a comparatively short 

 time, though sometimes only after the exhibition of 

 a powerful agony called by whalers 'the flurry,' 

 during which all boats wait at a safe distance." 



If a Whale is killed and the ship can not conven- 

 iently approach it, it must be taken in tow by the 

 boats. On its arrival at the ship it is secured by a 

 strong chain around the root of the tail and also 

 fastened near the head; it is made fast to the star- 

 board side of the ship so that it floats with its head 

 directed backward. Two powerful pulleys are se- 

 cured to the main mast, the running tackle of which 

 has its free ends coiled around the capstan. At the 

 side of the ship a frame-like scaffolding is lowered, 

 and swings horizontally above the Whale, serving 

 as a running stage for the blubber-cutters, who pre- 

 pare for cutting off the blubber with sharp spades. 

 An incision is made on three sides of the fin, to 

 which the tackle of a pulley is fastened; then the fin 

 is torn away, and a continuous strip of "blubber," 

 follows as it is raised up the ship's side, the width of 

 the strip being from fifty-two to seventy-six inches. 

 When this has been hoisted to the height of the 

 lower mast, a second tackle is fastened to it at the 

 level of the deck, the strip of blubber is cut off just 

 above it and the piece is lowered into the hold, 

 while the second pulley in turn winds the ribbon of 

 blubber again up to the lower mast. The hoisting 

 of the blubber is hard work and progresses only by 

 inches; by the slow but powerful traction the strip 

 of blubber, the width of which is determined by the 

 distance apart of the incisions made by the cutting 

 spades, is torn off the carcass of the Whale and 

 wound up in about the same manner as an apple is 

 pared or the wrapper is peeled off a cigar. The 

 body of the animal slowly revolves around its 

 longer axis; in the very beginning, when the oppor- 

 tune moment arrives, a Man secured by ropes and 

 armed with an axe descends to the body of the 

 Whale and cuts off the upper jaw of a Whalebone 

 Whale or the lower jaw of a Sperm Whale, which is 

 taken directly on deck, to have the Whalebone 

 taken from the former and the beautiful teeth from 

 the Litter. The huge upper part of the head of a 

 Sprem Whale is also taken on deck in two pieces, 

 in order to secure the spermaceti. The taking off of 

 the blubber lasts from four to eight hours, according 

 to the size and species of the Whale and the state 

 ol the weather: the process is technically termed 

 "flensing.' When all valuable parts have been 

 stored away, the mass of flesh is cast adrift. 

 Process of Render- The enormous strips of blubber let 

 ing Sperm down into the hold are there cut 

 0lL with short spades into small, oblong 



pieces, which arc thrown back on the upper deck 



and are deeply incised by a machine provided with a 

 sharp knife and run by hand; then they go into the 

 "rendering pot," or boiler. The boiling is done in 

 huge iron kettles, walled in on deck, and the hearth 

 of which is surrounded by water. At first wood is 

 used as fuel, but later on only the "cracklings" or 

 residue of the blubber, which possess enough heat- 

 ing power to "try out" the entire remaining supply. 

 The oil is cooled in a cooling-pan and then poured 

 into barrels. "Attired in their worst clothes," writes 

 Pechuel-Loesche, "half-naked, dancing and singing, 

 running after one another and brandishing their 

 tools, dripping with fish-oil and sooty like devils, 

 the crew disport themselves about the hearth. An 

 intensely active life prevails on board. The sight of 

 this activity is doubly striking by night when a mass 

 of the cracklings is hoisted up in an iron basket. 

 This strange torch burns merrily, casting a weird 

 light on the scene as the blazing flames throw glar- 

 ing, fitful rays on the deck and bring out in bold 

 relief the black clouds of smoke and the masts with 

 their sails, the reflection extending far out over the 

 sea. By day huge masses of smoke on the horizon 

 betray the presence of a Whaler which "tries out" 

 the blubber, long before one catches sight of the 

 ship itself." 



Proper Divis- The Whales are naturally divided 

 ion of the into two main groups, which one 

 Whales. may j us tly call s u b o r d e r s : the 

 Toothed Whales and the Whalebone Whales. In 

 the former both jaws, or at least one, is furnished 

 with teeth which are not generally s-hed, but may in 

 some instances be partially or entirely cast. This 

 feature suffices to distinguish them from the Whale- 

 bone Whales in any case. As Kuekenthal has re- 

 cently demonstrated, the Whalebone and Toothed 

 Whales ought to be classified in two independent 

 orders, as the Toothed Whales derive their origin 

 from a much older group than the Whalebone 

 Whales. The attributes they have in common are 

 only similarities which may be traced back to the 

 common adaptation of the two groups to a life in 

 the water. 



Zbc Mbalclxmc Mbalcs. 



FIRST SUBORDER: Mysticete. 



The Whales belonging to the suborder of the 

 Whalebone Whales {Mysticete} are few in species; 

 they are mainly distinguished by the lack of teeth 

 in both jaws, the upper jaws and palate being fur- 

 nished with plates of baleen or whalebone. These 

 plates do not stand in the stead of teeth, neither do 

 they resemble them in their organization, their mode 

 of connection with the jaw nor their shape. In very 

 young Whales the jaws have been found to contain 

 small, bone-like corpuscles, which might be thought 

 to be tooth-germs; the baleen, however, appears 

 much later and does not proceed from the jaws at all, 

 but from the palate, and the plates are not connected 

 immediately with the bone. Their transverse posi- 

 tion in the vault of the cavity of the mouth resembles 

 that of the palate-teeth of fish. The baleen is a 

 horny but not bony formation of the integument and 

 consists of triangular or, more seldom, of square 

 plates, in which may be distinguished thin external 

 layers of horn and an inner substance formed of 

 close-lying parallel filaments which terminate in 

 bristly fibers that form the split portions which com- 



