314 



UTILITARIAN ZOOLOGY 



" The whites capture dugong principally for their fat, which is 

 said to possess therapeutic qualities. It is considered an ex- 

 cellent remedy for consumption, but, happily for the dugongs, 

 this seems to be a mere superstition. I have not tasted their 

 meat myself, though some whites are very fond of it, and com- 

 pare it to veal. Others, however, describe its taste as disagree- 

 able and tnsipid. The aborigines of Torres Straits consider it a 

 great delicacy." The hide is thick and tough, rendering it suitable 

 for machine-straps. 



Whales, &c. (Cetacea). — Whales and their kind have been 

 systematically hunted down from very remote times, chiefly for 



the sake of their fat or blubber, but 

 some species also for their baleen or 

 " whale -bone ", and others on account 

 of the value of their skins. As else- 

 where stated (p. 209), the flesh of ceta- 

 ceans is regarded as a great luxury by 

 the Esquimaux and many other primi- 

 tive peoples. A distinction is drawn 

 between the Toothed Whales and the 

 Toothless Whales, in which transverse 

 plates of baleen, with fringed edges, 

 hang down from the roof of the mouth 

 (fig. 1226), serving as a sort of strainer 

 by which water is removed from the 

 plankton used as food. 



Toothless Whales [Mystacoceti). — The most important member 

 of this group is the Greenland or Northern " Right " Whale 

 [Bal(Bna mysticeitis), a purely Arctic species. The British 

 whaling industry, of which the chief ports engaged are Peter- 

 head and Dundee, is chiefly concerned with the capture of this 

 animal, but unfortunately has greatly declined of late years. To 

 Newfoundland the pursuit of whales is a matter of much greater 

 relative importance. 



The old method of capture was from open boats, by means 

 of harpoons thrown by hand, lances being afterwards used to 

 despatch the wounded animals. The harpoon -gun afforded an 

 improvement upon this, while a modern steam-whaler can dis- 

 pense with the use of open boats, and discharge harpoons (some- 

 times loaded with explosives) from a platform in the bows. 



Fig. 1226. — Baleen, a, Three plates 

 in section ; b, a pair of plates. Greatly- 

 reduced. 



