52 Sl'OLIA ZEYLANICA. 



WHALES WASHED ASHORE ON THE COAST OF 

 CEYLON FROM 1889 TO 1910. 



By H. F. Fernando, 



Taxidermist, Colombo Museum. 



A LARGE Sperm Whale, or cachalot {Physeter macrocephalus) , was 

 ^-*- washed ashore on the north-west coast of Mannar, midway 

 between Talaimannar and Mannar, in September, 1889. Mr. Haly, 

 the then Director, having received a wire from the late Mr. de 

 Hoedt, Head Clerk of the Kachcheri there, despatched me with a 

 collector to secure as much of the skeleton as possible. I arrived at 

 the spot accompanied by the headman of the district, and found the 

 huge carcase in a highly decomposed state. It must have been dead 

 probably a fortnight or more, and the carcase had drifted to the 

 northern part of the Island. 



I found the right side of the head and the right fin partly buried 

 in the beach. The left paddle was much damaged, probably by 

 some fishes, and the tail part was floating. The lower part of the 

 right side of the skull had been cut away, and the crest attached to 

 the right maxilla was entirely detached from the supraoccipital 

 crest. It is impossible to account for this except on the supposition 

 • that the whale received a blow from some large vessel. Another less 

 probable explanation is tliat it received its death at the hands of 

 harpooners. The lower jaws were missing, and it is probable that 

 they dropped into the sea whilst the carcase was drifting. 



This was my first experience of this sort of work, and the task was 

 a most difficult and trying one, but I tried my best to secure as much 

 as possible of the skeleton. The coolies who were brought by the 

 headman were a daring lot of men, and were a great help to me. 

 Although provided with hatchets and katties, they were given a 

 most difficult task, as they found much difficulty in cutting through 

 the masses of skin and blubber. The hatchets brought into requi- 

 sition rebounded without making any impression, and th.e waves 

 broke over the carcase, so that the men had to Qcase work for the 

 day. I then devised the following method of cutting away the 

 flesh. I obtained a few large shark hooks, each one being attached 

 to a long stick. A small opening was made in the skin -and a hook 

 was fixed into it. This hook was held tight by two men, whilst 

 another went on chopping the skin. In this way all the men were 

 engaged, and huge pieces of skin and blubber were separated. It 

 took a gang of twenty men nearly three weeks to clean the bones. 

 The bones were exposed in the sun for a week, and the heat was so 

 severe that melted marrow issued from tlie bones, and the stench 



