376 NIMROD OF THE SEA; OR, 



The natural history of the right whale is comparatively 

 well understood, from its coming more within the range of 

 our observation ; and the time of gestation, the manner of 

 bringing forth their young and nursing them, and the man- 

 ner of their feeding, are accurately described. But the nat- 

 ural history of the sperm-whale is yet as much a mystery as 

 when the first dead whale floated ashore to furnish precious 

 medicine to the ills of man. Its history is as obscure as that 

 of the earthquake, the aurora borealis, and the nebulous 

 light of the comet; and every .wise man feels entitled to have 

 his guess on the subject. 



Had the right whale the habit of "jawing back," as the 

 sperm-whale has, it would be next to impossible to secure 

 him by the present weapons and methods of our whalemen. 

 But, as we are told, the wind is tempered to the shorn lamb ; 

 so the blow of the Whale is tempered to the hunter's powers. 

 Read Scoresby, Jardin, and Beale, the fathers of whaling lit- 

 erature, and they will not reveal the secret of the weakness 

 of the right whale. Whalemen and naturalists, they have 

 failed to record the important fact, that on the tip of the 

 rpper jaw there is a spot of very limited extent, seeming- 

 ly as sensitive in feeling as the antennae of an insect; as 

 keenly alive to the prick of lance or harpoon as a gentle- 

 man's nose is to the tweak of finger and thumb. However 

 swiftly a right whale may be advancing on the boat, a slight 

 prick on this point will arrest his forward motion at once. 

 I think it safe to say that he will not advance a single yard 

 after the prick is given. He will either pitch his headj and 

 round down like a great wheel turning on a fixed axis, or he 

 will turn shortly to the right or left, according to the part 

 of the nosj which ig pricked. Sometimes he will throw his 

 enormous head straight in the air, and settle backward tail 

 first, by this motion exposing his whole throat to the thrust 

 of the harpoon or lance : he may take any course, save the 



