10 2 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



and the mackerel on their wandering path. Like the blubber- 

 whale, the fin-back is black above, white below, but distinguishes 

 itself by long and numerous blood-red streaks or furrows, run- 

 ning under the lower jaw and breast as far as the middle of the 

 belly. This is the species of whale which not unfrequently 

 strands on our shores, for though an inhabitant of the Arctic 

 seas, it wanders farther to the south than the Greenland whale. 

 It is seldom harpooned, for the produce of oil is not equivalent 

 to the expense, the risk, and the danger attending its capture. 



In the southern hemisphere, the Antarctic Smooth-backed 

 Whale (B. antarctica), a species similar to the Greenland whale, 

 though of less bulk, is the chief object of the fisherman's pur- 

 suit. It hangs much about the coasts in the temperate lati- 

 tudes, and loves the neighbouring seas, where the discoloured 

 waters afford the richest repasts, but is not known in the central 

 parts of the Pacific. In the spring it resorts to the bays on the 

 coasts of Chili, South Africa, the Brazils, Australia, New Zea- 

 land, Van Diemen's Land, &c. &c, where it is attacked either 

 by stationary fishermen, or by whalers, who at that time leave 

 the high seas. 



Farther towards the pole Sump-backs and Fin-backs abound ; 

 but these are far from equalling the former in value. When 

 Dumont d'Urville, returning from his expedition to the south 

 pole, told the whalers whom he found in the Bay of Talcahuano 

 of the great number of cetaceans he had seen in the higher 

 latitudes, their eyes glistened at the pleasing prospect ; but when 

 he added that they were ODly hump-backs and fin-backs, they 

 did not conceal their disappointment; for the hump-back is 

 meagre, and not worth the boiling, and the fin-back dives with 

 such rapidity, that he snaps the harpoon line, or drags the boat 

 along with him into the water. 



The Sperm Whale, or Cachalot (Physeter macrocephaiuLs), 

 rivals the great smooth-backed whales both in its various utility 

 to man and the colossal dimensions of its unwieldy body. The 

 largest authentically recorded size of the uncouth animal is 

 seventy-six feet by thirty-eight in girth ; but whalers are well 

 contented to consider fifty-five or sixty feet the average length 

 of the largest examples they commonly obtain. The male, how- 

 ever, alone attains these ample proportions ; the adult female 

 does not exceed thirty or at most thirty-five feet, so that there 



