8 " WHALE' FISftRY OF NEW ENGLAND 



artery is a foot in diameter, and ten to fifteen gallons of blood pour out 

 at every pulsation. The tongue of a right whale is equal in weight to 

 ten oxen, while the eye of all whales is hardly as large as a cow's, and is 

 placed so far back that it has in direction but a limited range of vision. 

 The ear is so small that it is difficult to insert a knitting needle, and the 

 brain is only about ten inches square. The head, or "case," contains 

 about five hundred barrels, of ten gallons each, of the richest kind of 

 oil, called spermaceti. 



One of these giants, when first struck by a harpoon, can go as fast as 

 a steam yacht, twenty or twenty-five miles an hour, but it soon slows 

 down to its usual speed of about twelve miles, developing about one 

 hundred and forty-five horse-power. 



Mr. Roy C. Andrews, of the American Museum of Natural History, 

 New York, was on a whaler ninety feet long, which struck a finback 

 whale, and he says that for seven hours the whale towed the vessel, 

 with engines going at full speed astern, almost as though it had been 

 a rowboat. 



The whale's young are about twelve feet long at birth, and can swim 

 as soon as they are born. So faithfully does the cow whale watch over 

 her offspring when they are together that she will rarely move when at- 

 tacked for fear of leaving the young whale unprotected, or of hurting it 

 if she thrashes round to escape capture. It is believed that whales 

 sometimes live to attain the age of eight hundred years. They sleep 

 at the bottom of the ocean, which fact shows that they do not inhale 

 air when asleep, like the warm-blooded animals, and to help them in 

 breathing below the surface they have a large reservoir of blood to as- 

 sist circulation. This spot is known to whalemen as the "life" of the 

 whale. When "sounding" to a great depth it is estimated that the 

 whale bears on its back the weight of twenty battleships. The strength 

 and power of a whale are described as almost unbelievable. 



ANCIENT HISTORY OF WHALING 



Every one knows the story of Jonah; how he was thrown overboard 

 to appease the gods, and how a "big fish" swallowed him and carried 

 him ashore. It will always be a mooted question whether or not the 

 big fish was a whale. If it were a whale, it is doubtful whether Jonah 

 got any further than its mouth, on account of the smallness of a whale's 

 throat. It may be well to explain that a whale does not belong to the 

 fish family, but is a mammal, and therefore, perhaps, this great fish 

 mentioned wasn't a whale. 



This "fishing on a gigantic scale," as it has been often termed, is of 

 very ancient origin and dates back to 890 A.D., when a Norwegian, 

 called Octhere, skirted the coast of Norway for whales. 



The Biscayans, who in the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and 

 fifteenth centuries became famous on account of their whale fishery, 

 were the first people to prosecute this industry as a regular commercial 

 pursuit. In this connection the French are also mentioned about 



