Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1882-03-04

About Whales
VlEC'H 1889

correspondent or Land and llid'r,
who accompanied tho Dundee whAhu.
fleet to Davis Strait aud lancaster Sound
last summer, mentioned tho Vh,ugc that
has taken place in tho geographical dis.
,ributiou of the Arcut whale. A century
" two ago this animal WAS found every.
where north ~ the siStcth degree vt lnti.
,udc, AND extended degrees farther south
on the cast coast cf America IL nboundcd
on the northern shores of Europe and tho
coaN uf Iceland aud Greenland, frequent.
iug the islands Of Jan Mcyeu and Splits.
bergen IN incredible numbers. Now IL has
deserted Sp,shergcn and the north VI
Europe. It's becoming rare ON tho coasts
vt Nrrcnland, and seems 10 hs retiring
Farther into the tmpeuotrAbc reCcsSe, of
the Polar Sea. Whalemcn nro not agreed
ms io whether the animals are actually
diminishing IN numbers. Some believe
that they ate sull MS numerous rs they
were at the beginning of the century
Others predict that the time Of their
total extinction is approaching. They are
tth sometimes seen iu enormous numbers.
Whales exceeding furty.seyon aud forty
ought ieot IN lcuglh nre caught every year.
Captain Dcuchars Of the Dundee fleet tw o
years ago took whale siNty.hvc feet long,
the " bone of which measures twelve
Feet ten inches, and which gave twenty
four tons of pure oil The largest whale
ever caught, in Davis Strait in 1919, had
bone fourteen feet long and yielded
tweniy.se,on tons of oil. The destruction
ot suckers " or baby whales. which is
considerable, may have something 20 do
with the present decadcncc of the fishery
Nhalemen think that no animal should DO
Killed whose bone is not moro than six
feet long. Whales may live TO very
great age. Although dead ones are often
found floating on the water, none are ever
discovered that have died from natural
causes. Whales are homogeneous, and are
much attached 10 their cousurts, Tho cor.
respondent who furnishes these fasts tells
ot an animal which came back every day
for fortnight through great peril from
the i'ect TO the place where its mate had
been taken, going over the course followed
by her in her flight, looking for her. The
ANIMALS sleep on the surface of the water,
euloy fine weather and sunshine, and are
often seen at play on bright days. When
they are together in largo numbers the
water becomes covered with an oily eyudn-
ton from their bodies, which has a sickly
smell aud attracts itocks of "mally "
peireIS. They can live only on the most
minnte marine animals, for, though n
whales mouth would hold n whalc.hoat.
with all its crew, its gulet would he choked
by herring" When feeding, it swims
through the water with its mouth wide
open, constant stream passing in at the
front, through the upright whalebone
plates at the sides, and out again at the
back. The small animals which form its
food are entangled in the long hairs which
fringe the internal edges of the plates. and
irum time TO time, as they become col.
lected IN sufficient numbers, the whale
closes its mouth, raises its tongue aud
swallows the mass" Its favorite food
is black petropodous mollusk rescm-
bling humble-bes, and, after this, jelly
fish, of which it takes millions to make n
meal. Fortunately for the whale these
creatures go closely massed together in
shoals many square miles in extent. After
man, the whales worst enemy is the
grampus, which attacks it savagely, and is
very destructive 10 the species. Its pro-
lection from both enemie, is the ice; and
1t Is, consequently, now found almost
exclusively IN the neighborhood of ice.-
Popular Science Monthly.