50 WILD I, IKK IX XKW XKAI.AXD. 



The cavit \ lyini: below tin- skull in the great square head of 

 this whale is tilled with spermaceti, which is llui.l fat during the 

 life ut' tin- animal. I'p till as late as tin- middle of the eighteenth 

 century this dil was regarded as the brain of the cachalot. The 

 most valuable product vielded by the Sperm Whale is ambergris, 

 which is a product of the intestinal canal. When first extracted 

 it has a greasy .feel and consistency, and then as it hardens it 

 acquires its characteristic sweet, earthy odour. It is occasionally 

 found Moating at sea or washed up on beaches, and it is extra- 

 ordinary how constantly lumps of fat or tallow tin-own overboard 

 by passing vessels get picked up on the shore and are eagerly 

 seized by the finders, who think they have discovered a treasure. 

 I have had numbers of such finds brought to me for identification. 

 They nearly always turned out to be chunks of mutton-fat. The 

 value of ambergris is very problematical anywhere from 5fr> 

 to 10s. per ounce, probably. As far as I know, it is used only in 

 connection with perfumery. 



Professor Beddard says of the Sperm "Whale. " Its food is chieriy 

 ciittletishes. and it is said to have a predileet ion for those colossal 

 cuttlefishes whose existence has until recently been doubted. Mr. 

 Hullen has sketched a conflict between these two giants of the deep. 

 On the other hand, it is said that its larire throat, more than biir 

 enough to swallow a man (this whale is credited with being that 

 which swallowed Jonah) does not usually admit fishes larger than 

 bonitos and albaeores." Bullen's account of this fight is worth 

 reading by all interested in these creatures. It is, of course, un- 

 substantiated, and the i llust rat ion which accompanies it is in part 

 ima<_rimirv and taken from the description. Hut the account is pro- 

 bably correct, and the fact of their choice of food is well authenti- 

 cated. In another par* of his work, describing the contents of the 

 mouth of a captured Sperm Whale, he writ,-: " hi the maw there 

 were, besides a large quantity of dismembered squid of great si/e. 

 a number of fish, such as rock-cod. la rracout a . snapper, and the 

 like, whose presence tin-re was a revelation to me. How in the 

 name of wonder so huire and unwieldy a creature as the cachalot 

 c.iuhl manage to catch those nimble members of the finny tribe 

 I could not for the life of me divine! I'nless and after much 

 cogitation it was the only feasible ex j da nat ion thai 1 coul< ; 

 as the cachalot swims about with hi,- lower jaw hanging down in 



