576 



THE WHALES. 



distinction to its position in other Whales it is placed 

 quite in front on the head, somewhat to the left of 

 the median line. The small eye lies far back; the 

 ear, a small longitudinal slit, lies a little below the 

 eye. The gape of the mouth is very wide, the jaws 

 opening back nearly to the eyes. The lower jaw is 

 considerably narrower and shorter than the upper 

 one, into which it fits when the mouth is closed, and, 

 like it, is beset with rootless, conical teeth, the num- 

 ber of which varies considerably, as some drop out 

 in old age and others become nearly covered by the 

 gums. Only the teeth in the lower jaw, from thirty- 

 nine to fifty-two in number (sometimes more numer- 

 ous on one side of the jaw than on the other) are 

 proportionately large. The skull is remarkable for its 

 lack of symmetry, the head for its bulk and uniform 

 thickness. Beneath the layer of blubber, which on 

 the head is several inches thick, spread layers of 

 cartilage, which serve as a covering for a large cavity 

 which a horizontal wall divides into two compart- 

 ments, connected by several apertures. The entire 

 cavity is filled with an oily, light substance, the 

 spermaceti, which is also found in a tube running 

 from the head to the tail, and in many little sacs 

 interspersed in the flesh and blubber. The flesh is 

 tough and coarse-grained and interwoven with many 

 thick, stiff, cartilaginous integuments. Over it lies a 

 layer of blubber, variable in thickness and enveloping 

 all is the naked, nearly smooth, glistening skin, of a 

 dusky black or deep dark brown hue, lighter in places 

 on the abdomen, the tail and the lower jaw, and in 

 very old Whales also on the top of the head. The 

 tongue is fixed along its entire under surface to the 

 lower jaw. The stomach has four compartments and 

 the bladder is filled with an orange colored, oily fluid 

 which sometimes contains ball-shaped lumps from 

 three to twelve inches in diameter and twelve to 

 twenty pounds in weight, probably products of dis- 

 ease, similar to the stones or calculi found in the 

 bladders of other animals. These balls furnish the 

 well-known and valuable substance known as am- 

 bergris. 

 Habitat and Habits The Sperm Whale is almost cosmo- 



of the Sperm politan in range. All oceans of the 

 Whale. globe, with the exception of the 



Arctic and Antarctic, harbor it. Pechuel-Loesche 

 considers the waters between the fortieth parallels of 

 north and south latitude as the proper range of the 

 Sperm Whale, and from this region it makes irregu- 

 lar excursions to the north, following warm currents 

 and also south to the fiftieth parallel and occasion- 

 ally beyond it. All specimens which have been 

 observed between the fifty-fifth and sixtieth parallels 

 of north and south latitude and still farther from the 

 equator can only be regarded as stragglers. Cer- 

 tainly no experienced and trustworthy whaler has 

 ever found or hunted groups or so-called "schools" 

 of the animals in these regions. 



After the fashion of Dolphins this gigantic Whale 

 traverses the ocean in compact groups or schools of 

 greatly varying numbers, selecting the deepest waters 

 as its haunts. It is fond of prowling near those 

 coasts washed by deep water but it carefully shuns 

 dangerous shoaly water, though it may occasionally 

 accidentally appear in it. The schools usually con- 

 sist of twenty or thirty members; at certain times, 

 however, several schools are said to unite and jour- 

 ney along together. 



In respect to its movements the Sperm Whale is 

 little inferior to the swiftest members of its order. 

 In quiet swimming it travels from three to six knots 



an hour, but when excited it rushes through the 

 waves, plowing them up like a steamer. One can 

 recognize it from afar by its movements. When 

 moving calmly, it glides lightly under the surface, 

 but when hurrying it violently strikes its tail up 

 and down, so that its head alternately goes up high 

 and down low. Not infrequently it assumes a per- 

 pendicular position, holding either its head or its 

 tail high above the surface: differing in this from 

 most other Whales. When playing it stretches out 

 one of its flippers and beats the water with great 

 force; or it lashes the waves with its tail so that 

 the splash can be heard far away and huge white 

 sheaves of water shoot up which can be seen at a 

 distance of ten knots on clear days and serve as 

 good signs to experienced whalers. On calm days 

 Sperm Whales lie in the water quite motionless and 

 let themselves be rocked by the waves, or they put 

 their heads high up in a ludicrous way, assuming an 

 erect position in the water. One might take them 

 for the ends of huge tree-trunks or the necks of 

 gigantic bottles, gently rocking to and fro on the 

 waves. 



Various kinds of Cuttle-fish form the principal 

 food of the Sperm Whale. Small fish that stray 

 into its large mouth, are naturally swallowed like- 

 wise, but the Whale does not hunt them. Occasion- 

 ally it also indulges in vegetable food, devouring 

 the various fruits of trees, which the rivers take into 

 the sea. 

 The Sperm Whale The Sperm Whale has been hunted 

 an Object of Vigi- from remote times, but more exten- 



lant Pursuit. sively since the end of the seven- 

 teenth century, the precedence in this form of 

 enterprise belonging to the Americans. Since the 

 beginning of this century the South Sea has been 

 the principal hunting ground for these Whales, and 

 even now they are nearly exclusively Englishmen 

 and North Americans who engage in this pursuit. 

 During the years from 1820 to 1830 English whalers 

 took 45,933 barrels of spermaceti, giving an annual 

 average of nearly 4,600 barrels; in 1831 and 1832 

 the yield grew to 7,605 and 7,165 barrels. During 

 the last thirty or forty years, owing to the develop- 

 ment of the petroleum industries, the profit of Sperm 

 Whale hunting has decreased considerably. An 

 adult male Whale yields from eighty to one hun- 

 dred and twenty barrels of oil; the value of such a 

 specimen varies, according to the exceedingly un- 

 stable condition of the market, between $2,200 and 

 85,000; the females are not worth half so much, 

 being much smaller. 



The pursuit of the Sperm Whales is fraught with 

 greater danger than that of other Whales. A Whale- 

 bone Whale endeavors to injure its enemy only in 

 exceptional cases, while the Cachalot defends itself 

 when attacked, turns courageously upon its adver- 

 sary and makes use not only of its tail, but also of 

 its formidable teeth. That it defends itself with its 

 teeth against other enemies than Man is substan- 

 tiated by various observations. Thus, sometimes an 

 old male, with a totally mutilated lower jaw, is 

 killed, the animal evidently having been engaged in 

 a fight with one of its own species, or some yet un- 

 known Leviathan of the deep; besides this, whalers 

 also know from hard experience, that not only does 

 a fighting Sperm Whale sometimes run its head 

 against a boat or smash it with its tail, but really 

 takes it into its mouth and crushes it quite easily. 

 Definite observation has shown that it can adjust 

 its tooth-studded lower jaw at almost a right angle 



