42 



WHALES AND WHALERS. [PART I. 



able animal the whale ; in the chase of which, dur- 

 ing the winter season, many boats are sent out from 

 the establishments on the coasts of New Zealand. 

 It is called the " black whale, or right whale" (Ba- 

 leena Australis, or Antarctica). Sometimes chase 

 is given to the finback and humpback whale, which, 

 with the black whale, belong to the great division 

 of the cetacea known by the sieve-like or screening 

 apparatus (baleen) with which they are provided ; 

 this it is which furnishes the whalebone of com- 

 merce, and distinguishes the whales above referred 

 to from the cachelots, or sperm whales. It is sel- 

 dom, however, that either a finback or a humpback 

 (so called, the former from possessing a true fin on his 

 back, and the latter a fat and cellular hump) is 

 caught, not only on account of their superior cun- 

 ning, greater wildness and celerity, by means of 

 which they are enabled to run out the longest line, 

 but also because, giving less oil than the black 

 whale, they are not so frequently pursued. The 

 spermaceti whale is not uncommon in the latitudes of 

 New Zealand, and often falls a prey to the whale- 

 ships which cruise in the open sea ; but the cachelot 

 does not approach shallow coasts and inlets, as its 

 habits are different from those of the black whale. 

 Shortly before I arrived at Te-awa-iti a sperm whale 

 was driven ashore which could only have been dead 

 a very short time ; it gave about two tuns of oil. 



It has been said that most of the cetaceous ani- 

 mals are cosmopolites, and that the sperm whale 



