190 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FESH AND FISHERIES. 



fat, composed of oil, .si)('nnac(^ti, and " white hoi'se," tlie last being an 

 extremely tough and sinewy blnbber-like substance found about the 

 head and neck, as Axell as ui)on 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" and 

 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 ii has be(;n of) per 

 cent and even as high as GO per cent of th(> total. 



The following parts in the sperm whale arc^ utilized as an oil-yield- 

 ing product: Th(^ l)ody blubber, case, junk, hump, ridge, lower jaw, 

 head skin, scalp, small tlukes, vertebrte, and fin bones. The bones 

 of all whah^s are porous or spongy in texture, and the cavities are 

 filled with more or less oil. The small bones, such as the fin bones 

 and the vertebra^, as well as the "pans," or broad 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 "scalp," is gener- 

 ally thrown overboard, but sometimes it is chopped up and boiled. 

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

 rendered if whales are scarce, but M^hen they arc* plentiful its utiliza- 

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

 quantity of oil it contains is difficult of exti-action. 



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

 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 they are often deceptive, the largest ones not always 

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

 mate the i)i-oduct with remarkable accuracy, but sometimes their 

 guesses miss the nuirk 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 Avine-measure. Sperm whales yield from 5 to 

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

 foi- the bulls. 



The oil-pi-oducing parts of the right whales nvo the body blubber; 

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

 and head skin ; and the blubber 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 Avhale of tem- 

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

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

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

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

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

 former being $7,687 and of the latter 13,500, a total of $n,lS7 from 

 a single animal. According 1o whalemen, Ili<' right whales now cap- 



