MAMMALIA 



28l 



This business does not require large capital and when fortune smiles 

 and good fishing grounds are found the profits are enormous. "In 

 two years a company with a capital of 910,000 francs, installed at South 

 Georgia, twice distributed a dividend of 130 per cent, besides adding a 

 portion of the profit to various reserve funds and increasing the com- 

 pany's resources 60 per cent." (183). 



The oil is obtained by boiling down the blubber, 30 tons or more 

 of which may be taken from one whale; from 10 to 100 barrels of oil 

 may be obtained from a single whale, depending on the species and 

 size. At the present time the flesh and other portions remaining after 

 extraction of the oil are made into fertilizer, guano. 



FIG. 1866. Return to port after the chase, towing a whale on each side. (After 

 Rabot, Whale Fisheries of the World.) 



' ' '*"~ -'t 



Spermaceti is a wax-like solid that is obtained from a peculiar kind 

 of clear whale oil found particularly in the sperm whale. This oil 

 is found in various parts of the body but especially in a large cavity 

 on the dorsal side of the head, between the skull and the integument. 

 The oil is given a certain rather complicated treatment and from 

 it is extracted the spermaceti, formerly used largely in the manufacture 

 of candles. 



Baleen or whalebone, as noted above, occurs as long, fringed masses 

 in the mouth of various species of whalebone whales. It is rather loosely 

 attached to the sides of the upper jaws, Fig. 179, 187, and 188, from 

 which it is easily dug out with axes and spades. The bowhead and right 

 whales supply the best whalebone, and as a large bowhead may fur- 



