THfi wHALE. 159 



entirely of blubber. A large whale yields about twenty tons 

 of oil, which is expressed from the blubber. It is for this 

 and the whalebone that this animal is deemed so valuable, 

 and for which it is so much sought by whalefishers. The 

 sense of seeing in the whale is very acute. Under the 

 surface of the water they discover one another at an amazing 

 distance. They have no voice, but in breathing or blowing 

 they make a loud noise. 



The usual rate at which whales swim seldom exceeds four 

 miles an hour, but for a few minutes at a time they are 

 capable of darting through the water with amazing velocity, 

 and of ascending with such rapidity as to leap above the 

 surface. This feat they perform as an amusement, apparently 

 to the high admiration of distant spectators. Sometimes they 

 throw themselves in a perpendicular posture, with the head 

 downwards, and rearing their tails on high, beat the water 

 with awful violence. Sometimes they shake their tails in the 

 air, which, cracking like a whip, resound to the distance of 

 two or three miles. The flesh of the whale, though it would 

 be rejected by the dainty palates of refined nations, is eaten 

 with much relish by the Eskimo, and the inhabitants 

 along the coasts of Hudson's Bay and Davis's Straits, who 

 esteem it a staple article of subsistence. 



Other whales of this sub-order are the common Fin Whale, 

 which is said to reach eighty feet in length, the lesser Fin 

 Whale and the Humpback Whale. In these, the yield of 

 whalebone and oil is so small that they are not thought 

 worth the trouble of catching. 



The Sperm The Sperm Whale rarely exceeds sixty feet in 

 "WTiale. length and lives in warm regions, such as the 

 Indian Ocean; rarely, if ever, visiting Arctic or European seas. 

 Its yield of oil is said to be less than that of the Greenland 

 whale but it is of a finer quality. Ambergris is also produced 

 from the body of the sperm whale. 



The Dolphin. This is a large creature, so like the porpoise 



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