738 



(toaSurp at fSahtrat 



in fact, till the appearance of Mr. Huggins' 

 admirable print [published by that gentle- 

 man about six months before] few, with the 

 exception of those immediately engaged in 

 the fishery, had the most distant idea even 

 of its external form. Of its manners and 

 habits, people in general seem to know as 

 little as if the capture of this valuable ani- 

 mal had never given employment to British 

 capital, or encouragement to the daring cou- 

 rage of our hardy seamen. The very term 

 whale fishery seems associated with the coast 

 of Greenland, or ice-bound Spitzbergen, and 

 the stern magnificence of Arctic scenery ; few 

 connect the pursuit of this ' sea beast ' with 

 the smiling latitudes of the South Pacific and 

 the Coral Islands of the Torrid Zone ; a,nd 

 fewer still have any more distinct conception 

 of the object of this pursuit, than that it is a 

 whale producing the substance called sper- 

 maceti, and the animal oil best adapted to 

 the purpose of illumination. 



" The head of the Sperm Whale presents, 

 in front, a very thick blunt extremity, called 

 the snout, or nose, and constitutes about one- 

 third of the whole length of the animal ; at 

 its junction with the body, is a large pro- 

 tuberance on the back, called by whalers the 

 4 bunch of the neck ; ' immediately behind 

 this, or at what might be termed the shoulder, 

 is the thickest part of the body, which from 

 this point gradually tapers off to the tail, 

 but it does not become much smaller for 

 about another third of the whole length, 

 when the 'small,' as it is called, or tail 

 commences ; and at this point also, on the 

 back, is a large prominence, of a pyramidal 

 form, called the ' hump,' from which a series 

 of smaller processes run half way down the 

 ' small,' or tail, constituting what is called 

 the ridge. The body then contracts so much 

 as to become finally not thicker than the 

 body of a man, and terminates by becoming 



:panded on the sides into the flukes,' o 

 il, properly speaking. The two 'flukes 

 constitute a large triangular fin, resembling, 



in some respects, the tail of fishes, but dif- 

 fering in being placed horizontally ; there 

 is a slight notch, or depression, between the 

 flukes posteriorly : they are about 6 or 8 feet 

 in length, and from 12 to 14 in breadth. 

 The chest and belly are narrower than the 

 broadest part of the back, and taper off evenly 

 and beautifully towards the tail, giving what 

 by sailors is termed a clear run : the depth 

 of the head and body is in all parts, except 

 the tail, greater than the width. 



" In the right side of the nose and head is 

 a large almost triangular-shaped cavity, 

 called by whalers the ' case,' which is lined 

 with a beautiful glistening membrane, and 

 covered by a thick layer of muscular fibres, 

 and small tendons running in various direc- 

 tions, and finally by the common integu- 

 ments. This cavity is for the purpose of 

 secreting and containing an oily fluid, which 

 after death concretes into a granulated sub- 

 stance of a yellowish colour, the spermaceti. 

 The size of the case may be estimated, when 

 it is stated that in a large whale it not un- 

 frequently contains upwards of a ton, or 

 more than ten large barrels of spermaceti; 

 Beneath the case and nostril, and projecting 



beyond the lower jaw, is a thick mass of 

 elastic substance, called the 'junk;' it is 

 formed of a dense cellular tissue, strength- 

 ened by numerous strong tendinous fibres, 

 and infiltrated with very fine sperm oil and 

 spermaceti. The enormous mouth extends 

 nearly the whole length of the head ; both 

 the jaws, but especially the lower, are in 

 front contracted to a very narrow point ; 

 and, when the mouth is closed, the lower 

 jaw is received within a sort of cartilaginous 

 lip or projection of the upper one, but prin- 

 cipally in front ; for further back, at the 

 sides and towards the angle of the mouth, 

 both jaws are furnished with tolerably well 

 developed lips. In the lower jaw are forty- 

 two teeth of a formidable size and conical 

 shape, but none in the upper, which instead 

 presents depressions corresponding to, and 

 for the reception of the crowns of those in 

 the lower jaw. The tongue is small, and 

 does not appear to possess the power of very 

 extended motion. The throat is capacious 

 enough to give passage to the body of a man, 

 in this respect presenting a strong contrast 

 with the contracted gullet of the Greenland 

 Whale. The mouth is lined throughout 

 with a pearly white membrane, which be- 

 comes continuous at the lips, and borders 

 with the common integuments. The eyes 

 are small in comparison with the size of the 

 animal, and are furnished with eyelids, the 

 lower of which is the more movable ; they 

 are placed immediately above the angle of 

 the mouth, at the widest part of the head. 

 At a short distance behind the eyes, are the 

 external openings of the ears, of size sufficient 

 to admit a small quill, and unprovided with 

 any external auricular appendage. Behind, 

 and not far from the posterior termination 

 of the mouth, are placed the swimming paws, 

 or fins, which are analogous in formation to 

 the anterior extremities of other animals, 

 or the arms of Man : they are not used as 

 instruments of progression, but probably in 

 giving a direction to that motion, in ba- 

 lancing the body, in sinking suddenly, and 

 occasionally in supporting their young. 



" A peculiarity of the Sperm Whale, which 

 strikes at first sight every beholder, is the 

 apparently disproportionate and unwieldy 

 bulk of the head ; but this peculiarity, in- 

 stead of being, as might be supposed, an 

 mpediment to the freedom of the animal's 

 motions in his native element, is, in fact, 

 on the contrary, in some respects very con- 

 ducive to his lightness and agility, if such a 

 term can with propriety be applied to such 

 an enormous creature ; for a great part of 

 this bulk of the head is made up of a large 

 thin membranous case, containing, during 

 life, a thin oil of much less specific gravity 

 than water, below which again is the junk, 

 which, although heavier than the spermaceti, 

 is still lighter than the element in which 

 the whale moves ; consequently the head, 

 taken as a whole, is lighter, specifically, than 

 any other part of the body, and will always 

 lave a tendency to rise, at least, so far above 

 ;he surface as to elevate the nostril, or ' blow 

 hole,' sufficiently for all purposes of respira- 

 tion ; and more than this, a very slight effort 

 on the part of the fish would only be neces- 



