28 CETACEANS. 



Products and The sperm-oil yielded by the thick layer of blubber investing the 



Hunting. body, and the spermaceti contained in the cavity of the head, are the 

 two products for which the sperm-whale is hunted ; and since the former fetches a 

 far higher price than ordinary whale-oil, this animal is one of the most valuable 

 of all the Cetaceans. The spermaceti exists in the form of oil in the living animal, 

 and is ladled out in buckets from the skull when the carcase is cut up. The 

 spermaceti of commerce is produced by a process of refining. The use of this 

 enormous mass of oil in the skull does not appear to be ascertained. 



In addition to sperrn-oil and spermaceti, the substance known as ambergris is 

 also a product of the sperm-whale. It is not, however, usually taken from the 

 animal, but is found floating in the sea, and ha been ascertained to be formed in 

 the intestines. This substance always contains a number of the beaks of the squids 

 and cuttles upon which the whale has fed. Although formerly employed in 

 medicine, it is now used exclusively in perfumery. 



In the old days of sperm-whale-hunting (of which alone we shall speak) the 

 vessels engaged in the trade were from three hundred to four hundred tons burden, 

 and were equipped for a three years' voyage; their usual destination being the 

 South Seas. They each had a crew of from twenty-eight to thirty-three officers 

 and men, and carried six whale-boats. These boats were about twenty-seven feet 

 in length, with a beam of four feet, and were built sharp at both ends. Four boats 

 took part in the chase, each being furnished with a pair of two hundred fathom 

 harpoon-lines, and carrying a crew of six men. The crew comprised a boat-steerer 

 in the bow, four hands, and the headsman in the stern. It was the business of the 

 boat-steerer to harpoon the whale, and when this was accomplished he changed 

 places with the headsman, whose duty it was to kill the animal with the lances. 

 When a whale was harpooned, immediately after its first struggles, and when it 

 was lying exhausted from its endeavours to escape, the boat was pulled close 

 alongside, and the headsman began the work of destruction by thrusting his lance 

 into the vital parts behind the flipper. As soon as the whale was lanced, the boat 

 was backed with all possible speed. When first struck the whale frequently 

 "sounded," or descended to immense depths, sometimes taking out nearly the 

 whole of the eight hundred fathoms of line carried by the four boats. Subse- 

 quently, however, when weakened by loss of blood, it kept on or near the surface, 

 towing after it one or more of the boats. By hauling in the line, the boat or 

 boats were once more pulled up alongside, and the monster finally destroyed either 

 by darting or thrusting the lances. 



Whaling, as thus carried out, was full of danger, and there are hundreds of 

 accounts of hairbreadth escapes from death, and of feats of daring. In the 

 southern seas Maories were not unfrequently shipped by British whalers as 

 harpooners, and the following narrative of the daring of one of these men is 

 related by Dr. A. S. Thomson in his History of New Zealand. " One morning," 

 writes the narrator, " a lone whale was seen on the placid Pacific ; the boat was 

 pulled up to it, and the New Zealander, balancing himself on the gunwale, darted 

 the harpoon at the creature and missed. After several hours' chase, under a 

 tropical sun, the whale was approached a second time, and the New Zealander 

 darted two harpoons at him, but again missed. Then the bitterest disappointment 



