190 rp:port of commissioner of fish and fisheries. 



fat, composed of oil, spei'iuMCc^ti, find "Avhite lioivse," the last beinj^ari 

 extremely tough aud sinewy bluhber-like substance found about the 

 head and neck, as Avell as upon other parts of the whale. The lower 

 anterior portion of the junk, known as the "nib end," is similar to the 

 body blubber and devoid of spermaceti. Spermaceti is also found on 

 certain parts of the body, especially in the core of the ' ' hump " aud 

 about the "ridge," situated along the back toward the "small," but 

 not in so great abundance as in the case. The yield of the head 

 averages about one-third of the total oil-product of the sperm whale. 

 Instances have been reported, however, in which it has been 50 per 

 cent and even as high as GO per cent of the total. 



The following parts in the si^erm whale are utilized as an oil-yield- 

 ing j)roduct: The body blubber, case, junk, humj), ridge, lower jaw, 

 head skin, scalp, small flukes, vertebra?, and fin bones. The bones 

 of all whales are porous or spongy in texture, and the cavities are 

 filled with more or less oil. The small l:>ones, such as the fin bones 

 and the vertebra?, as well as the "pans," or In-oad posterior extremi- 

 ties of the lower jaw-bone, are chopped up with axes and boiled out. 

 The cranium, or, as it is known to whalemen, the "scaliD," is gener- 

 all}^ thrown overboard, but sometimes it is chopped uji and boiled. 

 The "head skin," or the great mass of fat covering the scalj), may be 

 rendered if whales are scarce, but when they are plentiful its utiliza- 

 tion is not profitable. Some of it is exceedingly tough, and the small 

 quantitj^ of oil it contains is difficult of extraction. 



Whales are generally rated by the amount of oil which they jield 

 rather than by the size or length. The yield is expressed in barrels, 

 and an animal may be a " 40-barreler " or a " 100-barreler, " In 

 appearance thej^ are often deceptive, the largest ones not alwaj'^s 

 yielding the greatest amount of oil. Usually the whalemen approxi- 

 mate the product with remarkable accuracj', but sometimes their 

 guesses miss the mark widely. Blubber yields about 75 per cent of 

 its weight in oil, 4 tons of blubber producing about 3 tons of oil, each 

 containing 252 gallons wine-measure. Sperm whales yield from 5 to 

 145 barrels of oil, averaging about 25 or 30 for the cows and 75 to 00 

 for the bulls. 



The oil-producing parts of the right whales are the body blul)ber; 

 the tongue; the head gear, comprising the head, scalp, throat, lips, 

 and head skin ; and the blublier on the fins. The right whales 

 yield a larger quantity of oil than the cachalot, and the bowhead or 

 Arctic whale yields a larger quantity than the right whale of tem- 

 perate waters. In 1861 the Oeneral Pike, of New Bedford, took a 

 right whale on the Kadiak grouiul which stowed down 274 barrels of 

 oil. The schooner Lizzie P. Siriwwns, New London, killed a bow- 

 head whale on October 28, 1882, in Cumberland Inlet, which yielded 

 2,550 pounds of whalebone and (5,000 gallons of oil, the value of the 

 former being 17,087 and of the latter 13,500, a total of $11,187 from 

 a single animal. According to whalemen, the right Avhales now cap- 



