412 



WHALES AND DOLPHINS 



The blubber oil is of a finer quality, and fetches a higher 



price than that of most other 

 Cetaceans. Reference to the 

 skeleton of this Whale shows a 

 large space between the upper 

 jawbone and the top of the 

 head. During life this space 

 is filled with liquid and limpid 

 spermaceti, which is a peculiar 

 product, much lighter than oil, 

 and which, when purified, 

 assumes a white, flaky form, of 

 great service in the manufac- 

 ture of candles and for some 

 medicinal purposes. Ambergris 

 is another valuable product of 

 the Sperm Whale. It is a solid, 

 fatty substance of particular 

 value in the manufacture of 

 perfumes. It is a product of 

 the bile of the Whale, which is 

 found not only in the intestines 

 of the animal, but is more often 

 picked up at sea in ejected 

 masses of fifty and even a 

 hundred pounds' weight. Re- 

 fined ambergris is worth about 

 5 an ounce, which at once 

 indicates the scarcity of the 

 substance. 



In disposition the Cachalot is 

 very unlike the timorous Green- 

 land Whale. In Sperm-whaling 

 the demolition of boats by 

 wounded Whales was quite a 

 common incident. An infuri- 

 ated Whale has smashed a boat 

 by blows of its enormous flukes, 

 and then chewed its timbers into matchwood. Instances are 

 upon record where wounded and maddened monsters have 



