166 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



at the forward end, and provided with elastic wings at the 

 back. These serve as the feather of an arrow. The cavity 

 of the tube .contains six ounces of powder, and a fuse which 

 is fired in the discharge of the gun, and aimed at the most 

 vital part of the whale. It is driven deep within the body, 

 when it explodes, often killing the whale almost instantly. 

 But our whalemen have never adopted the English and 

 French " harpoon gun." It is regarded as clumsy, and un- 

 certain in fastening. We throw the harpoon by hand, and 

 experiment on the life of the whale after we are well fast 

 with hand or bomb lances. 



Judging by the -illustrations of the sperm-whale, as given 

 in the various natural histories which treat on it, there is 

 great diversity of opinion regarding the form of both this 

 species and of the right whale. Cuvier says : 



" It is concerning very large animals that the greatest er- 

 rors and confusion exist. This remark applies especially to 

 the cetacea. They astonish every one by the immensity 

 of their dimensions, and their capture has for ages given 

 employment to unwearied efforts of activity and courage; 

 but except under favorable circumstances, when rarely strand- 

 ed near some intelligent naturalist, they have scarcely ever 

 been described with accuracy, and still less minutely exam- 

 ined. Thousands of mariners have captured and cut up 

 whales who have never accurately examined one of them; 

 and yet it is upon their vague descriptions and figures that 

 zoologists have endeavored to establish the natural history 

 of these animals. This is the true cause why the history of 

 the cetacea is so meagre, yet so full of contradiction and rep- 

 etition." 



Desmaret made the whale a special study, and wrote of 

 sixty-three species; yet twenty which figure in his "Mam- 

 malogie" are doubtful, or not established. Lesson, learned 

 and trained in observation, remarks, that of eighty-four spe- 



