The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1883-01-04

which has in, consequence become scarcer
! and more timid as it has learned by ex-
perienee the danger of coming too near
| to shore. ~ tf3a
The Fin-back of the Pacific (Balenop-
terra exlifera) reaches length of sixty
five feet, and the Razor-backs or the At
lantic (B. rnusculusy approaches seventy,
but from their strength and swfftness, as
well as from the small quantity Of baleen
in their jaws, they are not greatly sought
for by the whalemen. Still larger is the
immense Sulphur bottom (Sibbaldius
sulfureus), whose gracefully-shaped body
measures from ninety-five to one hundred
feet in length, and whose activity and
strength are such that he has seldom been
taken, save with the bomb-gun. While
the genus Bal9noptera and its near allies
contains the largest of whales, it includes
also a yeritable pigmy some twenty-five
feet in lendth. st a-
1t may have seemed strange to those
who have thought upon the matter that
so huge creature as whale should per-
ish by wounds inflicted by harpoons and
lances welded by the weak arms of a
man. Such weapons would avail man
/
er elephant or Fhinoceros. But the
structure and habits of the whale furnish
the explanation. The arteries and veins
are, in various parts of the body, spread
out into complex network at no very
great distance from the surface, especial
| ly between the ribs and in and around
the thorax. These labyrinths of blood
vessels form areservoirof blood ,needful to
the creature during its stay below the
surface. The whalemen know these
evitals'' and strike for them with the
lance, producing a hemorrhage greatly IN
excess Of that which would be produced
from other animals by a similar wound.
The bleeding from Wounds by lance or
harpo0n is vastly increased by the habit
of descending when struck, as the press
ure of the heavy volume of water forces
out the blood in quantities that prove
rapidly fatal.
| Among the peculiarities of the whales
structure may be mentioned the, immov-,
| ably fixed feshy tongue, filling the eavi-
ty of the mouth, and the complex stom,
1 ach, divided into four compartments;
and thus, though the animals are carniv-
erous, resembling greatly the herbivorous
ruminants. The pectorals answer to, the
fore limbs of other mammals, and though
destitute externally of nails or division
into fingers, have askeleton structure not
very greatly differing from that Of
earniyorous land animal. On the other
hand, all that is left of the, hind limbs /,
is two small bones that are buried be-
meath the flesh, and the whale depends
for progression chiefly upon the powerful
horizontal tail.
The only creature that has been proved
to be in the habit of attacking or killing
the whale is the terrible Orea, or Killer,
a cetacean fifteen or,twenty feet long,
and, therefore, not more than thir-
teenth of the bulk of large Bowhead, or
Humpback, but furnished. with; numer- /
Gus large, strong conical teeth in both
jaws. Three or four of these creatures
have been seen to attack the largest |
whales, which frequently make no effort
to escape, but seem paralyged by fear. 1t \
appears more than doubtful, whether the !
sWordfish is in the habit of attacking the
whale, as it would certainly be unable to
complete its destruction; but as this !
quarrelsome fish will run its sword into a
vessels side, it may occasionally fall foul
of a whale. The ethreshera shark, which |
is popularly said to aid the swordfish by
striking the whale with its long tail,
could certainly only dissipate its own
strength by the operation; and Capt.
Scammon thinks the story may have,
arisen from the habit Of striking, each
other with their pectorals, INDUCED in by
the humpbaeks and, possibly, by other
species of whales. aze s9
Whalebone, once greatly in demand |
for the manufacture of the ribs of UNI
brellas and for insertion in some of the
mysterious and injurious bone bending
and muscle-conining articles which |
women consider an essential partof their |
costume, was superseded by steel for |
these purposes, and for some time was |
comparatively worthless, 50 that whalers
with tolerably full cargo, would cut |
away the head of a whale altogether. |
But recently it has been found that no |
better material for the seating Of chairs |
and the covering of cushions, as well as
the stuffing, can be found than the fibre |
of whalebone; while the abundance and |
qualities Of kerosene have driven whale |
oil out of the market as an illuminating |
agent; 80 that at the prestnt time al
whaler's profits lie almost entirely in the |
head of the animal, and the body is |
neglected at the end of a. successful |
cruise. - Philadelphia Record. .,i,. IL
A IL . L .