THE LIVING WORLD, 
“3 
its jaws at the most remarkable angles, together with its strength and courage, 
have made the sperm whale the frequent subject for story tellers. In addition 
to its supplies of oil, we owe to it the ambergris so well known in commerce 
as an essential ingredient of the perfumery which graces the toilet table. The 
“ spouting ” of the 
whale is a device 
for ridding itself 
of the water which 
has contained its 
food; the vapor¬ 
ized water thrown 
to a great height 
and having the 
f o r m of the si¬ 
phon, is one of the 
curiosities of life 
aboard ship. As 
is well known the 
harpooning is 
done from small 
boats which the 
whale is suffered 
to drag hither and 
thither until, ex¬ 
hausted by loss 
of blood, it yields 
itself an easy prey. At times the whale attacks the boat and, such accidents as 
the smashing of whale-boats is a frequent and often fatal occurrence. On one 
occasion a whaleman in falling from the air into which he had been thrown by 
a blow o f the whale’s tail, landed upon the whale’s back and holding to the 
harpoon, rode 
several miles be¬ 
fore it occurred 
to him to let go 
and suffer him¬ 
self to be res¬ 
cued by his com¬ 
rades. The oil 
is found i n a 
cavity on the 
right side of the 
head, and as 
much as ten 
barrels is not an 
uncommon yield. 
in pursuit op the sperm whaee. The North¬ 
ern Rorqual, 
though slimmer than the Greenland whale, exceeds one hundred feet in 
length. Whales are both social and domestic in their habits. They like to 
8 
