398 WHALES, SEALS, AND SEA-SERPENTS 



and Indian Oceans. But still earlier the Nantucket 

 whalers had pursued the Sperm Whale, and the fishery 

 is at present entirely in American hands ; the reader 

 is doubtless familiar with Mr. Frank Bullen's graphic 

 descriptions in "The Cruise of the ' Cachalot.' " Besides 

 the oil (which is much more valuable than that of 

 any other whales) and spermaceti, the Sperm Whale 

 yields the very curious product known as " ambergris/' 

 This is a concretion of the intestines, is usually inter- 

 mixed with cuttle-fish beaks, and is probably a product 

 of the digested cuttle-fish. It is one of the most 

 costly articles in commerce. While having but little 

 perfume of its own, it is a constituent of all the finer 

 scents, and seems to have some curious property of 

 blending and improving the perfumes with which it is 

 mixed. Now and then large masses of it have been 

 found cast ashore or floating in the ocean. 



There is a curious and rare species in the Southern 

 Ocean, called the Pigmy Sperm Whale (Kogia), a 

 miniature — some 15 feet long — of its great ally. 



There comes next a subfamily, known as the Ziphioid 

 or Beaked Whales. These are whales of moderate size, 

 and, like the Sperm Whale, make their diet of cuttle- 

 fish. One species, the Bottle-nosed Whale (Fig. 219) 

 or Hyperoodon, is the object of a fishery, chiefly in 

 Norwegian hands, and prosecuted by small vessels from 

 Labrador to Nova Zembla. The Bottle-nosed whales 

 go about in small herds, and, like the other Ziphioids, 

 the male and female are recognizably different, the 

 male having greatly enlarged crests upon its skull. 

 The oil contains a considerable percentage of sper- 

 maceti, and the skin makes an excellent leather, sup- 

 plying a great deal of what are known as porpoise 

 leather boots. This whale can leap right out of the 

 water, and is said to turn its head from side to side 



