THE CACHALOT. 



203 



Mr Pennant very properly made the distinc- 

 tion, by borrowing its name from the French, 

 has several teeth in the under jaw, but none 

 in the upper. As there are no less than seven 

 distinctions among whales, so also there are 

 the same number of distinctions in the tribe 

 we are describing. The cachalot with two 

 fins and a black back ; the cachalot with two 

 fins and a whitish back ; that with a spout in 

 the neck ; that with a spout in the snout ; that 

 with three fins and sharp-pointed teeth ; that 

 with three fins and sharp-edged teeth ; and, 

 lastly, the cachalot, with three fins and flatted 

 teeth. 



This tribe is not of such enormous size as 

 the whale, properly so called, not being above 

 sixty feet long, and sixteen feet high. In 

 consequence of their being more slender, they 

 are much more active than the common whale ; 

 they remain a longer time at the bottom ; and 

 afford a smaller quantity of oil. As in the 

 common whale the head was seen to make a 

 third part of its bulk, so in this species the 

 head is so large as to make one half of the 

 whole. The tongue of this animal is small, 

 but the throat is very formidable ; and with 

 very great ease it could swallow an ox. In 



boats tow it to the side of the ship, and if the weather he 

 fine, and other objects of chase in view, they are again 

 sent to the attack. 



The separation of the blubber from the animal, or 

 " flensing," is sometimes done differently from the 

 manner used in the polar whaling. A strap of blubber 

 is cut in a spiral direction, and being raised by tackles, 

 turns the cachalot round as on an axis, until nearly all 

 the blubber is stripped ofl'. The material contained within 

 the head, consisting of spermaceti mixed with oil, being 

 in a fluid state while warm, is taken out of large cacha- 

 lots in buckets, while the animal remains in the water; 

 hut in smaller ones, the part of the head containing the 

 spermaceti, is hoisted upon deck before the cavity is 

 opened. 



The substances taken from the head, congealing as 

 soon as cold, the compound is thrown in its crude state 

 into casks, and is purified at the end of the voyage on 

 shore. The oil is reduced from the blubber shortly after 

 it is on board, in " try works," with which the ships 

 engaged in this business are always provided. There 

 are two coppers in the try works, placed side by side, 

 near the fore hatch. These, with their furnaces and 

 rasing of brickwork, occupy a space of five or six feet in 

 length, by eight or nine in breadth, (or fore and aft 

 and athwart ship,) and four or five feet in height. The 

 cavity of the brick arches sustaining the coppers and 

 furnaces, forms a water cistern, so that while the 

 fire is burning, the deck is secured from injury by the 

 changing of the water in the cistern twice or thrice in 

 every watch. As the oil is extracted it is thrown into 

 r.oolers, whence, after about twenty-four hours, it is 

 transferred to casks. At first the coppers are heated 

 with wood, but afterward the cracklings or fritters of the 

 blubber, which still contain some oil, are employed as 

 fuel, and produce a fierce fire. About three tons of oil 

 are commonly obtained from a large cachalot of this spe- 

 cies; from one to two tons are procured from a small 

 one. A cargo, produced from one hundred cachalots, 

 may be from 150 to 200 tons of oil, besides the sperma- 

 ceti, &c. 



the stomach of the whale scarcely any thing 

 is to be found ; but in that of the cachalot there 

 are loads offish of different kinds ; some whole, 

 some half digested, some small, and others 

 eight or nine feet long. The cachalot is, 

 therefore, as destructive among lesser fishes, 

 as the whale is harmless ; and can at one gulp 

 swallow a shoal of fishes down its enormous 

 gullet. Linnaeus tells us that this fish pursues 

 and terrifies the dolphins and porpoises so 

 much, as often to drive them on shore. 



But, how formidable soever this fish may 

 be to its fellows of the deep, it is by far the 

 most valuable, and the most sought after by 

 man, as it contains two very precious drugs, 

 spermaceti and ambergris. The use of these, 

 either for the purposes of luxury or medi- 

 cine, is so universal, that the capture of this 

 animal, that alone supplies them, turns out to 

 very great advantage, particularly since the 

 art has been found out of converting all the 

 oil of this animal, as well as the brain, into 

 that substance called spermaceti. 



This substance, as it is naturally formed, 

 is found in the head of the animal, and is no 

 other than the brain. The outward skin of 

 the head being taken off, a covering of fat 

 offers about three inches thick ; and under 

 that, instead of a bony skull, the animal has 

 only another thick skin that serves for a 

 covering and defence of the brain. The first 

 cavity or chamber of the brain, is filled with 

 that spermaceti which is supposed of ths 

 greatest purity and highest value. From this 

 cavity there is generally drawn about seven 

 barrels of the clearest spermaceti, that thrown 

 upon water coagulates like cheese. Below 

 this there is another chamber just over the 

 gullet, which is about seven feet high ; and 

 this also contains the drug, but of less value. 

 It is distributed in this cavity like honey in a 

 hive, in small cells, separated from each other 

 by a membrane like the innfir skin of an egg. 

 In proportion as the oily substance is drawn 

 away from this part, it fills anew from every 

 part of the body ; and from this is generally 

 obtained about nine barrels of oil. Besides 

 this, the spinal-marrow, which is as thick as 

 a man's thigh, and reaches all along the 

 backbone to the tail, where it is not thicker 

 than one's finger, affords no inconsiderable 

 quantity. 1 



This substance, which is used in the com- 

 position of many medicines, rather to give 

 them consistence than efficacy, was at first 

 sold at a very high price, both from the many 

 virtues ascribed to it, and the small quantity 

 that the cachalot was capable of supplying : 



1 The perfume called Ambergris, is found in large 

 masses in the intestines, and is now known to be nothing 

 more than the excrements of the animal. 



