224 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



the enormous pressure the animal has to bear at great depths. 

 Suppose a whale after breathing darts down a thousand fathoms, 

 there would then be a pressure of nearly 25 cwt. on every 

 square inch of its surface. The nostrils are situated at the 

 highest point of the head, so that the animal can breathe as 

 soon as ever this portion emerges from the water. Beneath 

 the nostrils there are two reservoirs communicating with the 

 back of the mouth by means of the nasal passage, which is 

 furnished with a valve so strong that even the enormous 

 pressure we have already mentioned is not sufficient to force 

 the external water into its mouth. If, however, when at the 

 surface it desires to spout water from the nostrils or blow-holes, 

 the water is forced out of the mouth into the nasal passage, 

 and the valve being now closed, the walls of the reservoir are 

 contracted, and the water forced out in a stream. This is the 

 process of spouting. And the whale-bone, where does that 

 come from ? 



If the history of a bit of whale-bone taken out of an old 

 umbrella could be 

 correctly known, 

 it would form a 

 most entertaining 

 account of natural 

 fact and adven- 

 ture. It was origi- 

 nally taken from 

 the mouth of a 

 Greenland whale 

 of prodigious size, 

 for some of these 

 whales attain to 

 a length of seventy 

 feet, according to 

 Scoresby. The 

 mouth is so large 

 that men can 

 stand upright in 

 it as in a small 

 chamber, for it 

 attains to a length 

 of ten feet and a 

 height of thirteen 

 feet. It has a 

 tongue of enor- 

 mous size, but no 

 teeth. The whale- 

 bone or baleen 

 plates hang from 

 the upper jaw, 

 which in form is 

 not unlike a boat's 

 keel reversed. The 

 thin and closely- 

 set baleen plates 



serve to retain the small marine animals on which it subsists. 

 When it feeds it swims rapidly below the surface of the water 

 with open jaws, and the stream of water entering them charged 

 with minute life finds an outlet at the sides, being filtered of 

 these organisms by the thick internal hairy whalebone plates. 

 The animalculse, fish, &c., are now gathered up by the tongue 

 and swallowed. The gullet is very small, and only fitted for 

 taking such food. And now let us see how the whale is caught. 

 Imagine you are on a whaling ship in the far-off ice regions. 

 The sailor posted on the look-out on the highest portion of the 

 ship suddenly gives the signal that he sees a whale. The 

 boats are launched, and with an officer at the stern of each 

 and a harpooner at the bow, the sailors in measured time ply 

 their oars. Having arrived at or near the place where the 

 whale disappeared, the officer and harpooner both keep a sharp 

 look-out for the animal. A rumbling sound is heard, and 

 presently a broad whirlpool announces that the whale is ap- 

 proaching the surface ; then the blow-holes appear, sending up 

 a double column of white vapour. If by successful manoeuvring 

 the boat has approached within two o .- three fathoms, the har- 

 pooner is ready to fling his iron dart at the animal. The 

 favourable moment arrives, and the officer cries out " Strike ! " 

 Instantly the quivering harpoon is buried deep in the flesh of the 

 Thale, that is, of course, should the harpooner have successfully 



THE GREENLAND WHALE (Balcena myslicetus) 



performed his duty. But often it happens that the instrument 

 is not well fixed from his having sent the harpoon badly. The 

 whale may then free itself, and make its escape. But where 

 the first harpoon has been successfully driven into the flesh, 

 it is often followed by another before the whale has time to 

 recover from its first direful alarm caused by the pain, and 

 now there follows a succession of wild divings and harpoonings 

 terribly exciting and dangerous, until the monster of the deep 

 with one last struggle gives up his life. If they now be 

 successful in getting it near the ship, a rich prize has been 

 obtained, as the whale-bone or baleen from a single whale has 

 been known to fetch .200, and from the blubber a large supply 

 of valuable oil is obtained. 



There are many other kinds of whales besides the one we 

 have just spoken about, and one of them is of very great 

 importance from a commercial point of view, as a single 

 individual has been known to yield oil worth ,1,000. We refer 

 to the Cachalot or Spermaceti whale. It is of enormous size, 



attaining to a 

 length of 78 feet, 

 and having a head 

 nearly as long as 

 the rest of its 

 body, and exceed- 

 ing it in bulk. 

 The size of its 

 head is owing 

 mainly to the pre- 

 sence of a large 

 quantity of sper- 

 maceti, which 

 lodges in a hollow 

 or trough on the 

 upper part of the 

 skull, and is not 

 less than six feet 

 deep. This reser- 

 voir is quite sepa- 

 rate from tho 

 brain cavity, which 

 is comparatively 

 small. The Cacha- 

 lot is also provided 

 with a layer of 

 blubber, yielding 

 a less quantity of 

 oil than that ob- 

 tained from the 

 Greenland whale, 

 but of purer 

 quality. The lower 

 jaw is furnished 

 with large conical 

 teeth, sometimes 

 to the number of fifty-four. This is utilised in the arts as a 

 kind of inferior ivory. Each tooth fits into a sort of socket in 

 the upper jaw, which is toothless. 



Want of space precludes our speaking in detail of other 

 whales ; of the long-tusked narwhals, or sea unicorns, which 

 travel in great herds ; of the prettily-shaped dolphin, the 

 favourite of ancient mythology, and the amuser even of 

 modern mariners by its leaps and frisky movements ; of the 

 porpoise, which is the smallest of whales, being little over a 

 yard in length, but which is, nevertheless, the terror of 

 mackerel, herring, and salmon, which flee before it for dear 

 life ; of the grampus, about eight yards long, noted for its 

 fights with the most gigantic of whales, which having met, it 

 hustles and worries until in very weariness it opens its enor- 

 mous mouth, when the voracious grampuses eat up its tongue ; 

 and lastly of the manatee mild, affectionate, and sociable 

 which, from its fancied resemblance to a woman when seen at 

 a distance holding its young to its breasts with its flippers, 

 has been called a woman of the sea. These various kinds of 

 whales are divided into families, and the families are again 

 grouped under two headings Cetacea and Sirenia. The 

 manatee, with its fancied resemblance to the mythical siren, 

 belongs to the latter order, and the other whales we have 

 spoken of belong to the order of Cetacea. 



