xiv THE SPERM WHALE 191 



large hollow on the upper surface of the skull. This oily 

 matter, liquid at the natural temperature of the body, 

 crystallises when cold, and yields when refined the spermaceti 

 of commerce, so valuable in the manufacture of surgical 

 ointments and candles. The nostril or " blowhole " is single, 

 in the form of a longitudinal slit, and placed, not near the 

 top of the head, as in most other cetaceans, but near the 

 front end of the great snout, and rather to the left of the 

 middle line. Consequently the " blowing " of the sperm 

 whale is so different from that of all other species that the 

 whalers can recognise it at any distance. The steamy jet, 

 instead of being double and projected directly upwards, as in 

 an ordinary fountain, which is the case with all the large 

 whalebone whales, is single and directed obliquely forwards. 

 The opening of the mouth is on the under side of the head, 

 considerably behind the end of the snout. The lower jaw 

 is extremely narrow, and has on each side from twenty to 

 twenty-five stout conical teeth, which furnish ivory of good 

 quality, though not in sufficient bulk for most of the purposes 

 for which that article is required. The upper teeth are quite 

 rudimentary and buried in the gum. The pectoral fin, or 

 flipper, is short and broad, and on the back, where many 

 whales have a dorsal fin, there is a series of low, rounded 

 protuberances, scarcely to be called fins. The general colour 

 of the surface is black above and gray below, the colours 

 gradually shading |nto each other. The food of the sperm 

 whale consists mainly of various species of cephalopods (squid 

 and cuttlefish), but they also eat fish of considerable size. 



The length of the sperm whale has been, as is always the 

 case in which size is the most striking characteristic, greatly 

 exaggerated. Giants are always said to be much larger than 

 they really are, as tested by rigid measurements. To say 

 nothing of the fabulous dimensions given by older writers, 

 even Beale, who had immense opportunities of actual observa- 

 tion, says that one captured in the Japan seas measured 84 

 feet in length. Such statements, however intended in good 

 faith, can never be relied upon ; the difficulties and sources of 

 fallacy in making such measurements are very great, and we 

 are not assured whether the length is taken, as it should be, 



