THE SPERM WHALE OR CACHALOT 



South African coasts. A male of maximum size 

 was harpooned in Algoa Bay in 1897, and its skeleton 

 is now on exhibition in the Port Elizabeth Museum. 

 In cutting up this carcase an inexperienced man 

 made a great hole through the soft blubber and 

 flesh of the head, tapping the large cavity which 

 held the valuable spermaceti oil, which gushed out 

 and was lost in the sand. 



Unlike the Whalebone Whales which seek quiet 

 bays when about to bring forth their young, the 

 Sperm Whale gives birth to its young out at sea. 

 One calf, as a general rule, is produced at a time. 

 At birth it is from II to 14 feet in length. 



Sperm Whales in the past assembled in great 

 " schools " of twenty to several hundred individuals, 

 composed of cows and one to a dozen bulls, accord- 

 ing to the size of the herd. These formed one 

 division or troop, and the young bulls gathered 

 together and formed a second division. Owing 

 to incessant persecution by man, Sperm Whales 

 are now only met with in pairs or in small schools 

 of a few individuals. They are able to descend to 

 great depths, and remain down for an hour at a 

 stretch. The Sperm Whale is covered with a thick 

 layer of blubber, which yields the sperm oil of 

 commerce. Spermaceti, which is in a fluid con- 

 dition until exposed to the air, is confined to the 

 cavity in the head. The spermaceti is ladled out 

 in buckets when the carcase is being cut up. The 

 use of this great quantity of oil in the skull is not 

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