WHALE-LAND AND ITS CUSTOMS. 12") 



taline purity which we know. This oil gives to 

 the fore part of the whale's body a lightness 

 which enables the animal to float and rest. 



The "junk," a thick, elastic mass which 

 occupies the head under the case, also yields a 

 considerable quantity of sperm oil. The sub- 

 stance called ambergris, which is used in the 

 most expensive perfumery, and in some Catholic 

 and Mohammedan churches as incense, is found 

 in the intestines of diseased sperm whales, and is 

 supposed to be generated by indigestion. It is 

 extremely rare, and often commands the astound- 

 ing price of three hundred dollars a pound. 



There are many other kinds of whales, but they 

 are for the most part imperfectly classified, and 

 of little interest save to naturalists. 



The tongue of a right whale is a soft, thick 

 mass, and has been known to yield twenty-five 

 barrels of oil. Whale flesh is firm, coarse, and 

 red in color. 



It has been calculated from the transverse lines 

 on the plates of baleen, each line being supposed 

 to denote an annual check of growth, that whales 

 attain to the age of eight or nine hundred years, 

 but it is by no means certain that this assumption 

 is well grounded. 



The infant whale is from eight to twelve feet 

 long, and can swim the moment it is born. The 



