THE A, OF WHALES 65 



is always cut off and hoist on deck to bale put 

 dat case. Many times dey find ambergrease 



(ambergis) floating beside a dead sperm whale. 

 It's solid and yellowish and stuck full o' cuttle 

 feesh beaks dat de whale's done swallowed but 

 ain't digest. Dey makes perfume out o' dat am- 

 bergrease and it's worth its weight in gold. I've 



offen seen it in chunks dat weighed a hundred 



pounds. 



" You see a sperm whale ain't eat nothin' but 

 cuttle feesh — giant squid, dey calls 'em, or devil 

 feesh. Dey certainly is terrible fellers — is dem 

 devil feesh. Got arms twenty or thirty feet long 

 >vit' sucking discs all over 'em and a big fat body 

 in de middle ob dese snaky arms, wit' big pop- 

 eyes as big as water buckets and a big black beak 

 like a parrot's to tear its food wit'. Dose devil 

 feesh. Dey certainly is terrible fellers — is dem 

 sperm whale nose 'em out and eat 'em. Some 

 time dey comes to de top and de whale and de 

 cuttle feesh fights it out. I've hearn old whal- 

 ers say dey seen fights between sperm whale and 

 cuttle feesh but I ain't never seen dat and I 

 reckon mighty few fellers ever did. But when 



