25G HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



as to exclude the chilling blasts. In the latter fishery such a receptacle accommodates comfort- 

 ably about three men an officer, a boat steerer, and a foremast hand ; and when the captain 

 desires to go aloft, the latter goes out in the rigging during the interview, or, if very cold and 

 the consultation prolonged, he goes below. In this fishery the inconveniences of standing mast- 

 head are vastly augmented by the extreme cold, and in the southern fishery by the rays of a 

 tropical sun. 



When whales are raised from the mast-head the species may be determined by their appar- 

 ently sportive actions as well as by their spouts. In the latter case they are of course easily 

 recognized, as the cachalot has one spiracle and the others two.* 



The sperm whalemen sometimes cruise for months in succession without seeing whales, con- 

 sequently there is great rejoicing, more especially if the vessel has been a long time from home 

 with a "clean hold." or if there have been unusually long intervals "between catches," when an 

 individual makes its "rising" within the range of vision, and by the vaporous column ejected from 

 time to time indicates its whereabouts to the men on watch. The expressions employed by the 

 men on the lookouts to notify the crew that whales are near have apparently changed with the 

 times. Hector St. John, describing the methods of whaling adopted by the "first proprietors of 

 Nantucket," says that, "as soon as they arrive in those latitudes where they expect to meet with 

 whales, a man is sent up to the mast-head; if he sees one he immediately cries out 'Awaite 

 PawanaFt They all remain still and silent until he repeats 'Pawaua' (a whale), when in less 

 than six minutes the two boats are launched, filled with every implement necessary for the 

 attack." 



Capt. N. E. Atwood, of Provincetowu, tells me that the cry used by some of the old Cape Cod 

 whalemen from the mast-head to notify the crew was "Towno!" and Captain Davis J makes use 

 of this cry in a sense signifying help. His statement is corroborated by the old whalemen of New 

 Bedford, who tell me that it was the custom when they encountered a larger turtle on the 

 Gallapagos Islands than they could manage, they invoke the assistance of the crew by shouting 

 "Towno! Towno!" This term is also mentioned by Bennett, who, speaking of the English south 

 seamen, says: "It was formerly the custom in this fishery to announce the spouting of a whale by 

 the cry of 'Town, oh,' which, although not very clear in its derivation or meaning, is yet employed 

 by some amongst the crew of a whale-ship, when seeking turtle, &c., on shore, to announce the 

 view of a prize, and establish an individual claim to the discovery ." 



Frederick Marten says, in his journal of a voyage to Spitzbergen in 1G71, that when the Dutch 

 whalemen saw whales, "or when they heard them blow or spout, they call in to the ship 'Fall! Fall!' 



* The nostrils of the sperm whale are on the left skle of the cranium, and coalesce iu one passage, which com- 

 municates with an external fissure near the front and upper extremity of the head, which portion is known to 

 whalemen as the " noddle end." Through this orifice the animal ejects the column of expired air from its lungs. 

 The " spout" may at times, as the animal makes its rising, when the spiracle is submerged by the waves of a rough 

 sea, be composed of or mingled with surface water, which is elevated by the column of breath as it escapes upward; 

 otherwise the "spout" is merely a condensation of warm air from the lungs as it comes in contact with the colder air 

 of the atmosphere. 



The right whale has two "blow-holes" at the summit of the large protuberance on the back of the head, 

 familiarly known as the "crown;" and the vaporous emissions, which are thrown up vertically, part at the top and 

 all on either side. The bifurcate appearance of the column has give-u origin to the name " forked spout," applied to 

 this species by the Nautucket whalemen. It is all the more apparent as the whale approaches provided you take 

 time to investigate the matter or recedes from you, in a direct lino. The finback whale also has two spiracles; but 

 as the columns unite uoar the base, it hus. at ;i distance, the appearance of one spout. But to the experienced e\e 

 the spout of this whale can never be confused with that of the sperm whale; the former ascends at almost right 

 angles with the horizon, and the latter is thrown forward at an angle of about 45 degrees, or, as the whalemen say, 

 about a "four-point course." 



t Which is probably a "Nattick " expression, signifying " Here is a whale." (J. T. B.) 



t Ximrod of the Sea, p. 104. 



} Whaling Voyage Around the Globe, 1840, vol. ii, . i.'0-J.- 



