THE TYRANT OF THE SEAS. 377 



apparently with delight. The blubber, when pickled and 

 boiled, is described as not an unsavoury dish \ the tail, 

 first parboiled and afterwards fried, is not only not un- 

 savoury but even agreeable ; and the flesh of the young 

 whale has been compared to veal. 



The inferior products of the whale, we may add, are 

 turned to good account in regions where Nature has been 

 so thrifty of her good things that man cannot afford to 

 throw aside the veriest trifle as waste. The membranes 

 of the abdomen are used for the upper articles of cloth- 

 ing ; and the peritoneum, in particular, being thin and 

 transparent, serves instead of glass in the windows of the 

 Eskimo huts. The bones are converted into harpoons 

 and spears, for striking the seal or darting at ocean- 

 birds, and are also employed in the framework of tents 

 and the construction of boats; the sinews are divided 

 into filaments, and used as thread, with which they sew, 

 and sew very dexterously, the different articles of their 

 dress. 



In the waters of the great Southern Ocean lives the 

 Cachalot or Sperm Whale, which is the terror of all 

 marine animals, and deserves his title of " The Tyrant of 

 the Seas." In strength immense, in appetite insatiable, 

 if he encounters an enemy he rushes to the attack, and 

 never desists until he conquers or is conquered. When 

 he receives the whale-hunter's harpoon, ne rushes towards 

 the boat, raises his head, opens his tremendous mouth, 

 and seems intent upon crushing in his mighty jaws his 

 enemies, their weapons and implements, and everything 

 within his reach. But the hunter knows the danger ; 

 and skilfully putting his boat about, suffers the ocean- 



