THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 375 



The sperm-whale is dangerous at either end ; but the mo- 

 tions of its flukes are limited, as compared with the right 

 whale. Its blows are delivered vertically; and when it 

 strikes right or left the blow is performed by a rolling of 

 the body. To compensate for this rigidity of the flukes, 

 it is possessed of admirable skill in fencing with the jaw. 

 The most fatal accidents in boats arise from this weapon. 

 The motion of the jaw is quick, and its sweep tremendous. 

 In a large whale rolling, with the jaw distended, the sweep 

 may include a circle of forty. feet, and woe be to the boat 

 whose bottom receives the upward cut, while certain death 

 follows the reception of the downward blow ! Thus it is 

 possible for two boats placed forty feet apart to be broken 

 by the same blow from the jaw of a rolling sperm-whale. 

 The right whale, on the contrary, is comparatively harmless 

 with the head, but is possessed of great lateral reach with 

 the flukes, sweeping, as whalemen express it, from eye to eye. 



To judge from external evidence, the sperm-whale is 

 much the more combative of the two. No large bull whale \ 

 of this species is taken whose great square head is not scar- 

 red and furrowed with marks of the teeth of rival bulls ; 

 and often the shattered teeth, and broken or distorted jaws, 

 attest the fierceness of their combats. The right whale, 

 however, is incapable of more than severely paddling its 

 enemy with its tail. 



The sperm-whale, of the two, is more regular and much ' 

 longer in its periods of spouting, and of remaining under 

 water. It will spout sixty or seventy times, and remain un- 

 der water an hour or more even when not pursued. The 

 right whale spouts twelve or fifteen times, perhaps and then 

 descends for a short period. Both turn fluker^ 5 lift the 

 tail perpendicularly in the air, when they go down. The 

 oil of the one is rich in spermaceti ; the other furnishes the 

 lower-priced train-oil. 



