Marvels of the Universe 



225 



light yellow hue of its corrugated bell}-. All other rorquals have the belly corrugated longitudinally 

 from the vent to the verge of the lower lip, but the colour is universally a dirty white with this one 

 exception. The depth between these ridges of blubber, speculation as to the uses of which is at 

 present mere waste of time, is from two to four inches, and the elasticity of the whole fabric so 

 great that I have seen a blanket-piece from the belly of a humpback when skinning the whale 

 extend from the whale to the futtock shrouds (just beneath the main-top) under the strain, and 

 when cut off fly up into a space onh' ten feet long — this from a stretch of forty-five feet. 



This arrangement of the bell\' blubber is a perfect boon to the limpets, barnacles and other 

 parasites which infest these whales, for within those snug folds the shellfish find a cosy abiding- 

 place from which nothing but the death of their host can dislodge them. No one who has not 

 seen the condition of the underside of a great rorqual can credit how terrible are the ravages made 

 by these parasites upon the peace of the gentle monster compelled to give them lodging-place, or 

 seeing, could fail to pity. 



Alas ! the day of the Sulphur-Bottom, as of all the harmless rorquals, is practically over. Many 

 whaling companies, armed with the latest lethal weapons, which no whale can resist — or escape — 

 are established in most of those desolate outliers of the world which, since the seals were exterminated 

 therefrom within the last century, have been of no use to any. Now a new war of extermination 

 is being carried on against the whales. It will not last so long as the one did against the seals, for 

 several reasons, principal among which is the highly modernized character of the weapons, the 

 speed of the vessels, and the length of the period necessary for reproduction of whales as against 

 seals ; while other factors are the same, such as the absence of all control over such far- distant 

 operations, and the want of knowledge of what the extermination of these vast sea-creatures and 

 the consequent disturbance of the balance of Nature will mean. 



Phol'j 4;/] [//, C. Shepslone. 



THE SMALL EYE OF THE SULPHUR-BO I lOM WHALE. 



Here a portion of this huge creature ie photographed to show the comparatively small size of the eye (to left of photo) and 

 its great distance from the ear — shown to the right in the upper part of the picture. 



IS 



