354 LABRADOR 



full-grown male can stay down one hour), whales have 

 a huge reservoir of blood in vessels situated in the front of 

 the chest, like the pipes of a water-cooler. This blood 

 he overoxygenates by repeated spoutings. A whaler can 

 tell by the number of blows exactly how long the ani- 

 mal will remain below on his sounding. To aerate the 

 blood thoroughly, a male sperm whale blows about sixty 

 times, once every ten seconds. The females blow for about 

 four minutes, and do not remain down so long as the males. 

 The elastic, compressible skin is equally compressed by the 

 water at great depths; in a marvellous manner the vital 

 organs are relieved of dangerous pressure, while an auto- 

 matic water-bag valve fills and closes the nostrils so that 

 no water is forced in. 



Six species frequent the Labrador coast, though only 

 four kinds are still common, the finback, humpback, 

 sulphur-bottom, and white whale. A specimen of the 

 largest, the sulphur-bottom, so called from the colour of 

 his body, has been taken with a length of ninety-five feet 

 and a circumference of thirty-nine feet. The weight of this 

 animal was estimated to be two hundred and ninety-four 

 thousand pounds. Think of the awful power of the tail 

 that can not only propel this mass at fifteen knots an hour, 

 but can actually hurl it clean out of water into the air ! 



In this animal the baleen, or whalebone, hanging from 

 the roof of his mouth, weighed eight hundred pounds and 

 reached four feet in length, or somewhat less than half 

 the length of the "bone" in an adult right whale. There 

 were no fewer than three hundred plates on each side. 

 He gave one hundred and ten barrels of oil. So large is the 

 mouth of a sulphur-bottom that a boat can row into it. 



