Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-01-29
WHALES OF ALL SORTS.
Their Habits and Modes of Life and
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The London Telegraph, alluding to
an exhibition of different kinds of
whales shortly to be gwen In the Nat
ural History Museum Of London,
says:
How such spectacle as this changes
the ordinary ideas about the life that
is lived under the sea! It is seen al
most at glance that that grievous di-
vision of terrestrial existence into the
eaters and the eaten holds good in ma
rine communities also. On the one
side are the toothless whales, prodi-
gious In bulk, but virtually defense
less against attack; soft-bodied, and
comparatively unwieldly. On the
other are the fierce ''toothed" whales,
smaller IN dimensions but In proper
ton sWifter, fierce as tigers, and as
cruel. Here is the enormous en-
whale, some seventy feet in length,
with its great bel pless paw for they
are little else. which it uses as paddles,
hanging idly down, and its immense
jaws which, frlnged with whalebone,
served Ii we'll enough as q trap for d.
miuutlve crustaceans and cutie fish,
but are no weapon against the croco-
ollie snout of its smaller enemies.
Next to it IS ''the killer" Orca GIadi-
atOr. the wolf of the sea, which looks
Leylathan rs ordinary beasts of prey
regard fecks and herds, and which
does not hesitate, with it's hundred
weight of bulk to Its victims ton, to
attack it. Sometimes they will hunt
IN packs, and surrounding one mons
ter, will ferociously tear the living
thing to pieces, mouthful by mouth
full. At others they chase the dolphin
and the porpOlse, or Kill the seal and
the narwhale. Except that they do
not haunt the harbors of busy ports,
follow ships and otherwise seek hu-
man prey the killers" whales
though they are, are far more terrible
creatures than the sharks. There
have been writer's who have spoken
of life under the ocean wave as
placidly, monotonOusly dull, without
any decided interests or eXcitementS.
Yet, looking round this whale vault,
with its fierce armature of fangsand
tusk and horn, it is difficult, indeed
impossible, to believe that sub
aqueous existeBce is really
uninteGesHng. On the con
trary, when we5 survey forms so
active and powerful IN outline, so
pugnacious in expression, so dread
fully armed for battle with natural
weapons, and ferocious rapidity of
speed we see at once how awful must
b. the tragedies enacted in the impen-
etrable depths of the sea, and what
conflicts of race and for empire must
be continually wPged. For mere ex
istence alone the carnage passes be-
yOnd human calculation. Look at
that fnner whale there, with q mouth
in which o tea party could be given.
Imagine it wide open and going ahead
full speed through a dense shoal of
shfimps, a pOrIidge of small fry OF all
kinds. Then think of those jaws sud
denly closing upon a good substantial
mOuthfUl-subs tantiaI, that is to say,
IN proportion to the mouth-and after
the water has filtered out through
the whalebone frInges into the sea
again, fancy the whale swallowing all
It's captlves at snap, and then open
ing It's mouth for more. Compared to
this the hecatomb was mere trifling
with Sacrifice, a holocaust pure child's
play. Lives by the million, swirled
gulp by gulp down the monsters
NAV; and nGxt day the same monster,
torn into shreads by the gladiator
''Orca, lay scattered over acres of the
sea as food for many millions more
and what cOmbatS the fish must see
How the lobster must tWiddle his long
antenE ae with excitement, or the octO-
pus on the rock look up with conster
nation at the prodigiouS duels OF the
rOrqNals, tie levIathan encounters of
the cachal0ts! What a scattering of
smaller folk there must be when the
fighting whales come up, and Ia close
battalion charge with their ponder
GUS heads! Over what spacious battle
fields the battle must range, and how
iRdescrIbabiy terrific the shock of
giants meeting IN the green silence.
The confic5 might be d nightmare,
phantom struggle, but that the sea
is being dyed deeper and deeper red
round he cOmbatants, and that the
furious impact of the great bodies
sends responsive vibrations through
the sensitive depths, telling the
jewellers on the sea-bed and In the
crannied rocks that the giants are at
war. Or change the scene to fine
weather with a summer horizon un-
cloudad, and peace every where
what a liberal education it must be to
a sprat or dish of whitehall to see
these lords of the sea ranging
TRANQUILITY among their peers, and
foliug through unmeasured fathoms
in careless easel To live under the
water and watch the whales sat
home" would be almost enough to
reconcile one to being fish.
Tile Drainage.
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