162 The Story of the New England Whalers 



from the bones of a human arm, and it is a mat- 

 ter of common knowledge that the mother whale 

 clasps her young to her breast by means of a 

 fin much as a human mother holds her babe. 



It is believed that in some long-ago period 

 of the world's development the whales lived 

 alongshore, part of the time on land and part 

 of the time in the sea. How they were driven 

 from the land to permanent homes in the sea 

 is a matter of inference. Very likely the food 

 supplies in the ancient seas were abundant. 

 At the same time some huge reptile sought them 

 for food when they were out on the land. A 

 peculiar habit of the modern whale strengthens 

 the belief that they once had enemies on the 

 shore; when alarmed, now, they sometimes 

 rise up perpendicularly with their heads well 

 out of water, they stand up like a beaver, so 

 to speak, to scan the sea, and when in that posi- 

 tion they revolve slowly around until they have 

 looked in all directions with both eyes. 



While in Madagascar waters, Frank Bullen 

 (Cruise of the Cacbelot) saw a school of sperm 

 whales playing around the ship, the crew being 



