The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-05-02
Something About Whales.

can make its way through the water is
astonishing-far beyond what is gener-
ally supposed. ats ordinary rate of
speed is moderate enough; but when a
boat becomes fastened to one by the
harpoOn, or it gets "gallied" in any
way, it rushes off at a rate that would
leave the feetest locomotive far behind.
What whales best speed is has never
been exactly ascertaiLed, but the fol-
lowing anecdote related of one is given
as true, and seems to imply that it is
only little less than that of electricity:
" A whale-ship, fishing off the western,
coast of Greenland, one day struck a
large right whale-the largest the
whalesmen had seen during the cruise.
Leviathan started off in a westerly di-
rection; and night coming on, the boats
were obliged to cut from him, leaving
the iron still sticking in his flesh. That
was the last they ever saw of him; but
two days after, another vessel, engaged
in the same business, caught the same
whale-of course identified by the irons
in the Polar basin, near Behring's
Straits % He had thus made the fam
Gus northwest passage in 48 hours-the
quickest time on record.
The food of the right whale consists
of small sea insects, or meduse, known
to the whalesmen .as "brit." These
animalcules are of redish color, and
generally about the size of mustard
seed, though sometimes very much
larger, some being nearly half an inch
long. They float in immense shoals
upon the surface of the sea, sometimes
colOring the water to the extent of
many miles as if it were blood. The
whale swims in amongst them, with it's
lips dropped fiat along, or a little be-
low, the surface and when large guam
titles of the brit" have surged into its
yawning cape, it closes its lips in an up
ward direction, scooping the insects
into its mouth, and along with them
several hogsheads of seawater. The
Jaws are then opened again, and with a
grand outward breath the water is
elected through the whalebone fringes,
leaving the insects clinging to the coat
ing of hair inside, there to be gathered
up by the whales great tongue and sent
wholesale into its stomach.
Why the throat of this, which is al
most the largest animal in existence,
should be no larger than that of horse
pr OK may appear an eccentricity of ma
tire. Yet such is the case with Lee
viatban, to the perplexing of natural
lists. The Bible readers, too, may be
puzzled by it, for certainly the whale
that swallowed Jonah could not have
been a right whale.
As far as is known, whales are wholly
uniparoUs, no account being given of
their having been found with more than
one calf at time. The young of the
right whale is at birth about II feet
long, ard weighs nearly q ton. 1t re-
7nmbles the parents in every respect,
except in size and color, the latter being
a shade lighter than in the full-grown
animals. The cows are strongly at
tached to their young and though at
other times inoffensive, and evidently
unused to warfare, they are ever ready
to defend their offspring with fearless
ness and fury, and will attack boats or
even ships in revenge for any injury in
hicted upon it. When the calf is first
born, the dam teaches it to swim, by
keeping close alongside of it until the
little one gets tired, when she i'll dive
under and raise it up so that it may
rest upon her back. At this season the
cows are very savage, and it is always
dS Ii dangerous IuONcu0IlG W
strike a whale calf, though it is some
times done for the purpose of bringing
the " school, to a half. When a right
whale is sucking its calf, the quantity
of milk is enormous; and If the man.
mae be cut open, the flow will whiten
the ocean for rods around. When ac-
companied by its young, the right whale
generally endeavors to keep "on sound
ings," probably tor the purpose of hav-
ing within easy reach a resting-place
for the calf.
Whether the right whales are migra-
tory in the ordinary sense of the word
is not known, but certain it is that no
can be placed on their
They appear and disap
pear almost mysteriously at times, and
no one can imagine whence they come
or whittier they go. To-day, scores
may be counted from the masthead, all
moving in the same direction,
not one will be in sight.
Several days after, you meet a vessel
coming from the direction in which
they had disappeared, and learn from
her that not a fuke has been seen.
While you are wondering at this, you
are startled by the cry of "there she
blows" and the next moment the ocean
is alive with them, all moving in one
neutrality-suspicious. the very opposite to
that they were going to when last seen.
Where they stray to in their perambu-
lations is a mystery, unless we may
suppose them to have been hidden un-
der water, but this, from the necessity
of their coming to the surface for res
is plainly impossible. This
habit of hide-and-seek belongs also to
the bow-head whales, and is, perhaps,
more peculiar to them than to the black
species.
A very singular circumstance connect
ed with the habits of these great ceta-
ceans is the mode of communication
that exists among them. By. some sort
If telegraphy, as yet unexplained, one
" school" can give notice of danger to
another at a distance of several miles.
This has been often observed, and may
be seen from the masthead at any time
when two schools are in sight, and al
individual in either has been struck by
the harpoyn. The moment the iron is
fast, the spectator will see the whales
Of the more distant school-it may be
five miles or more off-rushing in a
straight line from the scene of danger.