i2oo THE CETACEANS 



The sperm oil yielded by the thick layer of blubber investing the 



body, and the spermaceti contained in the cavity of the head, are 



the two products for which the sperm whale is hunted; and since the 



former fetches a far higher price than ordinary whale oil, this animal is one of 



the most valuable of all the Cetaceans. The spermaceti exists in the form of oil in the 



living animal, and is ladled out in buckets from the skull when the carcass is cut 



up. The spermaceti of commerce is produced by a process of refining. The use of 



this enormous mass of oil in the skull does not appear to be ascertained. 



In addition to sperm oil and spermaceti, the substance known as ambergris is 

 also a product of the sperm whale. It is not, however, usually taken from the ani- 

 mal, but is found floating in the sea, and has been ascertained to be formed in the 

 intestines. This substance always contains a number of the beaks of the squids and 

 cuttles upon which the whale has fed. Although formerly employed in medicine, it 

 is now used exclusively in perfumery. 



In the old days of sperm whale hunting (of which alone we shall speak) the 

 vessels engaged in the trade were from three hundred to four hundred tons burden, 

 and were equipped for a three years' voyage, their usual destination being the south 

 seas. They each had a crew of from twenty-eight to thirty-three officers and men, 

 and carried six whaleboats. These boats were about twenty-seven feet in length, 

 with a beam of four feet, and were built sharp at both ends. Four boats took part 

 in the chase, each being furnished with a pair of two hundred fathom harpoon lines, 

 and carrying a crew of six meji. The crew comprised a boat steerer in the bow, 

 four hands, and the headsman in the stern. It was the business of the boat steerer 

 to harpoon the whale, and when this was accomplished he changed places with the 

 headsman, whose duty it was to kill the animal with the lances. When a whale was 

 harpooned, immediately after its first struggles, and when it was lying exhausted 

 from its endeavors to escape, the boat was pulled close alongside, and the headsman 

 began the work of destruction by thrusting his lance into the vital parts behind the 

 flipper. As soon as the whale was lanced, the boat was backed with all possible 

 speed. When first struck the whale frequently " sounded," or descended to immense 

 depths, sometimes taking out nearly the whole of the eight hundred fathoms of line 

 carried by the four boats. Subsequently, however, when weakened by loss of blood, 

 it kept on or near the surface, towing after it one or more of the boats. By hauling 

 in the line, the boat or boats were once more pulled up alongside, and the monster 

 finally destroyed either by darting or thrusting the lances. 



Whaling, as thus carried out, was full of danger, and there are hundreds of 

 accounts of hairbreadth escapes from death, and of feats of daring. In the southern 

 seas Maoris were not uufrequently shipped by British whalers as harpooners, and 

 the following narrative of the daring of one of these men is related by Dr. A. S. 

 Thomson in his History of New Zealand. " One morning," writes the narrator, "a 

 lone whale was seen on the placid Pacific; the boat was pulled up to it, and the New 

 Zealander, balancing himself on the gunwale, darted the harpoon at the creature 

 and missed. After several hours' chase, under a tropical sun, the whale was ap- 

 proached a second time, and the New Zealander darted two harpoons at him, but 

 again missed. Then the bitterest disappointment arose among the tired boat's crew, 



