76 3IARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 



hump ; then it raises its head, and respires slowly for the space of about three 

 seconds, sending forth, diagonally, a volume of whitish vapor, like an escape of 

 steam; this is called the "spout," which, in ordinary weather, may be seen from 

 the mast-head at a distance of three to five miles. In respiring at its leisure, the 

 animal sometimes makes no headway through the water ; at other times it moves 

 quietly along at the rate of about two or three miles an hour; or, if "making a 

 passage" from one feeding -ground to another, it may accelerate its velocity. When 

 in progressive motion (after "blowing"), hardly an instant is required for inspira- 

 tion, when the animal dips its head a little, and momentarily disappears ; then it 

 rises again to blow, as before, each respiration being made with great regularity. 

 The number of its spoutings, when in a state of quietude, depends on the size of 

 the animal : varying in the adult females and the younger of both sexes from the 

 oldest and largest males. The same may be said as to the period of time it remains 

 upon or beneath the surface of the ocean. With the largest bulls, the time occu- 

 pied in performing one expiration and one inspiration is from ten to twelve seconds, 

 and the animal will generally blow from sixty to seventy -five times at a "rising," 

 remaining upon the surface of the sea about twelve minutes. As soon as "his 

 spoutings are out," he pitches head -foremost downward; then "rounding out," turns 

 his flukes high in the air, and, when gaining nearly a perpendicular attitude, de- 

 scends to a great depth, and there I'emains from fifty minutes to an hour and a 

 quarter. 



While on a cruise in the bark Rio Grande around the Gralapagos Islands, in 

 1853, a large Cachalot was captured, which yielded eighty -five barrels of oil. This 

 animal was pursued from eleven o'clock a.m. to four p.m., during which time it 

 spouted, or "blowed," very regularly, fifty-five times at each "rising" while on the 

 surface, and when he descended was not visible again for fifty -five minutes. All 

 this time he was going a direct course at the rate of three miles an hour. The 

 smaller and younger whales, however, are not so regular in their time of remaining 

 upon or below the surface of the water, and, as before mentioned, they spout a 

 less number of times. They generally continue above the water one -fourth or one- 

 fifth of the time consumed by the others, making thirty or forty spouts while up, and 

 remaining under water twenty to thirty minutes. But when the Cachalot becomes 

 alarmed, or is sporting in the ocean, its actions are widely different. If frightened, 

 it has the faculty of instantly sinking, although nearly in a horizontal attitude (as 

 the sailors say, "he can let go and go down in a jiffy"). When merely startled, 

 it will frequently assume a perpendicular position, with the greater portion of its 

 head above water, to look and listen ; or, when lying on the surface, it will sweep 



