44 
BREATHING. 
when he has had his “ spoutings out,” the head sinks 
slowly, the “ small,” or the part between the “hump” 
and “ flukes,” appears above the water, curved, with the 
convexity upwards, the flukes are then lifted high into 
the air, and the animal, having assumed a straight posi- 
tion, descends perpendicularly to an unknown depth,— 
this act is performed with regularity and slowness, and 
is called by whalers, “ peaking the flukes,” an act too, 
which is always noticed by those who are employed in 
the look-out, who call loudly, when they disappear 
below the surface, “ there goes flukes*” 
The whale continues thus hidden beneath the surface 
for an hour and ten minutes ; some will remain an hour 
and twenty minutes, and others for only one hour, but 
these are rare exceptions. If we then take into con- 
sideration the quantity of time that the full-grown sperm 
whale consumes in respiration, and also the time he 
takes in searching for food, and performing other acts, 
below the surface of the ocean, we shall find, by a 
trifling calculation, that the former bears proportion to 
the latter, as one to seven, or in other words, that a 
seventh of the time of this huge animal is consumed in 
the function of respiration. 
The females being found generally in large numbers 
and in close company? it is difficult to fix the attention 
upon one individual, so as to ascertain precisely the 
time consumed below the surface ; however, as all in 
one flock generally rise at the same time, it may be 
observed, that they remain below the water about 
twenty minutes, they make about thirty-five or forty 
