8 AT SEA. 



furnished with plates of a horny structure, arranged trans- 

 versally in rows of a triangular shape, and having their 

 edges armed with long thread-like processes which hang 

 loose in the mouth. These plates are from eight to ten feet 

 long, and number about 300 on each side. These are the 

 baleens, a valuable article of commerce, which sells in Euro- 

 pean markets from ;{^200 to £2,00 per ton. Another important 

 article of commerce procured from these whales is the oil, of 

 which many thousand tons are annually brought to Europe ; 

 but lately this trade has somewhat decreased, in consequence 

 of the scarcity of these mammals, which is felt more and 

 more every day. Its food consists of small marine animals^ 

 crustaceae, molluscs, medusae, etc., the narrowness of its gullet 

 preventing the passage of larger animals. With its bones 

 harpoons and spears are made, and very good fishing lines 

 with the threads of the whalebones. As a rule, it is a very 

 quiet and tranquil animal, but when wounded, becomes quite 

 furious, and very dangerous to approach. Its strength is 

 prodigious, and occasionally, sailors, when fishing these 

 animals, have been overturned, boat and all, and sometimes 

 with loss of life. 



On the 7th May, we sighted the ISLAND OF DlEGQ 

 Ramirez. It was excessively cold. Both water and oil were 

 frozen. On that same day we sighted Hermite'.S ISLAND, 

 explored in 1624 by the Dutch Admiral THermite. The pro- 

 longation of these Islands is what forms the land known now- 

 a-days on the maps, as Cape Horn. It was discovered by 

 M.M. William Corneliszon and Jacob Lemaire in 16 15. It 

 is situated in 55.58.41 latitude, and 69.30.17 longitude west. 

 We sighted also Ildefonsos and Boat's Islands, and we 

 ran great dangers between these islands, which is a very 

 dangerous passage for ships. We met an English sail going 

 in the same direction as ours. 



On the gth of May, we met large quantities of whales^ 

 Cachalots or sperm whales, and whalebone whales. There is 

 a great difference between these two mammals, which belong 

 to two distinct families. The cachalot (Physeter macro- 

 cephalus) is distinguished from the whalebone whale by 

 not having baleens, or whale bones, which are replaced by 

 numerous conical teeth, the upper portion of the skull is more 

 or less symmetrical. The external respiratory organ is single, 

 the two nostrils uniting before they reach the surface, and 

 usually in the form of a transverse crescentic valvular aperture, 

 situated over the top of the head. When the mouth is open 



