113 



among the denizens of the deep, would again become as abundant in the 

 waters of both hemispheres as they were in olden times, and afford a 

 steady and profitable source of employment for capital, and a wide field 

 for the training of a hardy race of seamen. 



Although widely dispersed, the cachalot appears to select the strong 

 ocean currents and their back-water as favourite feeding-grounds ; for 

 in such places innumerable floating minute molluscs, medusaB and 

 crustaceans are gathered together, and which, in their turn, attract 

 hordes of larger animals, the peculiar prey of our whale. 



In habits the cachalots are gregarious, mostly seen in groups, techni- 

 cally termed schools, of from twenty to fifty, made up of half-grown males, 

 or of females and their young, guarded by a few of the older males. 

 Large and full-grown males during certain periods go singly in search 

 of food, but when an individual is met with far from the herd, it is 

 usually found to be an old lull, who has retired into a solitary state of 

 existence. 



When about to emigrate from one feeding-ground to another, several 

 schools frequently unite, and conjointly make the passage, swimming in a 

 direct course at a rapid rate, with their heads raised well above the 

 water, and their bodies so near the surface that their backs are often 

 seen. Arrived at their destination and replete with food, they become 

 widely scattered, lazily basking on the surface, or in deep repose, or 

 leisurely casting from the nostrils, at each spout, a succession of 

 vapoury jets, at regular intervals of ten or fifteen seconds ; or when the 

 fit takes them, gamboling with an uncouth vigorous agility, which 

 frequently displays the entire of the gigantic frame several feet in the 

 air. 



The usual rate of speed is from 8 to 10 miles an hour ; but the 

 greatest is attained by the painful prick of the harpoon, when it reaches 

 to 15 miles ; a velocity very inferior to that of many others of the 

 family, and not to be mentioned as a boast of fast travelling in these rail- 

 road times. 



Desirous of feeding, or of avoiding- an indifferent object, the cachalot 

 settles down to the required depth, by gradually and leisurely lowering 

 itself in a horizontal position ; when alarmed, the head assumes a 

 downward tendency, and the tail rises vertically in the air, and the 

 animal plunges headlong, almost perpendicularly, into the deep, and 

 remains submerged from three-quarters of an hour to an hour and a 

 quarter. 



The male cachalot of 60 feet long, will have a pectoral fin of about 

 3 feet, and a caudal one, the principal organ of progression, of 19 feet 

 across ; in good condition, such an animal will yield about 100 barrels 

 of oil, and 12 barrels of spermaceti. 



The female (which rarely attains to one-half of the length of the 

 male), of 35 feet, will measure across the caudal fin 12 feet, produce 

 about 50 barrels of oil, and a proportional supply of spermaceti. 



