Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-10-25
Another White Whale In New York.

The expected whale has arrived at
the aquarium on Thirty-ffth street.
after a weeks tourney from the st.
Lawrence to Quebec by schooner, and
thence to this city by rail. He is
| white, frisky and weighs l, 800 pounds.
And his capture was in this wise
Early in June Mr.. Coup and his
party went to st. Pauls Bay and drove
down piles on the shore SO as to make
IA large inclosure, with narrow
entrance, in the region where the
whales come up to calve. The tide
there is sixty feet, and at high water
the tops of the piles are out of sight
thirty feet below the surface of the
sea- 1t was two months, however,
before whale accepted the invitation
| extended to his tribe, and directed his
foolish course into the captivity pre-
| pared by his foes. AS soon as his
"blowing" revealed his presence
| where he was wanted, two small boats
hurried to the entrance of the inclos-
ure, and stayed there until the tide re-
coded and left the captured animal
hopeless on his belly in eighteen inches
of water. He was trapped at last, but
too chagrined, probably, to give ex-
| preston to his emotions as he felt the
rope laShed around his tail to keep him
from 'flopping," and found himself
rolled over and over into the box
which his enemies had floated into the
! inclOSure from their schooner. When
the water began to rise again the
| hx,
| the help of a derrick the box and its
contents We're hoisted successfully ON
| board. There the animal lay packed
carefully in seaweed, the roof of the
box being removed in order to secure
| for him plenty of air. There he stayed,
| with man constantly by his side to
| keep his blow-hole" wet. else he
| could have revenged himself by dying;
| and when the vessel reached Quebec
the express company and the railroads
took charge of him, the faithful at
tendant still remaining to dampen as
siduously the all-important elbow
hole On arriving i'll this city the
| derrick again was called into requisi-
| ton; the heavy box was transferred to
| a dray, and thence to the large central
| tank of the aquarium.
No sooner did the coverless box sink
| to the bottom of the tank than the
whale, again in his native element,
| stretched himself and swan out and
| up to the surface. 1t was his first
swim in seven days. And all that
time he had tasted also. He is still
too excited to eat anything, his nour-
| ichp Il ic l,,h
Der. But when his feelings cool down
| a little, he will doubtless consume the
bushel and half of live little cells
which his keeper will daily offer him.
| Every day, too, four large hogsheads
| of seawater. each containing 600 gal
Ions, will be brought to his tank from
the East River. His personal habits
and requirements are such as to render
| eXpedient a change of water every
| twenty-four hours; but it would not
| do to let all the water out at a time; he
would founder violently and hurt
| himself, so only one-half of the con-
| tents of his tank get changed daily.
| He took to the water quite naturally
again, swimming all the time-never
still an instant. The school-children' $
biographies sometimes represent him
with his head ten feet out Of water,
and "spouting' profusely; but he
never reaches up so high, and he never
| really spouts. In the ocean he comes
just up to the surface every few min
utes in order to breathe: but as he
sometimes unintentionally does not
get high enough, but strikes the top
of a sea, he is forced to elbow the
air from his lungs through the water,
which gives him the appearance
of "spouting." In the aquarium
tank, however, he never pre-
sents the phenomenon of spouting;
he comes to the surface every little
while. exhales, inhaics and then goes
down. About two inches below the
upper end of his blow-hole there is a
clapper like a pump-yalve-" the
incest little thing you ever saw says
| Pref. Butler; when he comes up to eX-
hale. he opens it; as soon as he has in
hailed he shuts it, and the blow-hole is
water tight. Beneath the valve are
two openings, one leading to the right
| lung and the other to the left lung;
hence, when he blows under water he
| blows TWO streams.
Whether this lively white whale will
| live long or not is somewhat doubtfuls
! His perils are five in number. In the
| first place he is liable to injure him
self against the columns in the sides Of
the tank. These columns, however,
are lined with sponges, and the rest Of
the sides consist OF plate glass and
Portland cement, which makes "A sur
face as smooth as marble tablet
Next. any impurity of the water will
speedily show its effects. Thirdly, too
much warmth Of water vii, iIjure the
animal. Whales are found only in