REMARKS. 
17 
a clear day, because of the condensation of the vapour, 
which takes place the moment it escapes from the nostril, 
and its consequent opacity, which makes it appear of a 
white colour, and which is not observed when the whale 
is close to the spectator, and it then appears only like a 
jet of white steam ; the only water in addition is the 
small quantity that may be lodged in the external fissure 
of the spout-hole, when the animal raises it above the 
surface to breathe, and which is blown up into the air 
with the spout, and may probably assist in condensing 
the vapour of which it is formed. 
It has, however, been stated by some naturalists that 
it is only at times that this whale projects w 7 ater from 
the nostril, and that is at the time, they say, of his 
feeding. How far such an observation can apply to the 
Greenland whale, which feeds near the surface, will be 
noticed in the conclusion of these remarks; but I can 
state here, that such an observation cannot hold good 
with regard to the sperm whale, for that creature feeds 
far below the surface, and, in so doing, the large male 
continues in the depths of the ocean from an hour to an 
hour and twenty minutes, without once shewing himself 
above ; so that, if he wishes to eject water from the 
mouth through the nostril, to avoid swallowing it (if, 
indeed, he has any anatomical arrangement for so doing), 
it must be performed in the depths of his native element, 
into which he descends to feed, and therefore the opera- 
tion is remote from observation. 
This general opinion, like that of the sperm whale’s 
voice, is not only entertained by F. Cuvier, but among 
