St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1890-08-30
The Whale.
= The whale is the mightiest monsr

warm hearted mammal, in which as thrill
ns adventures are experienced as tn
mighty hunter" meets with in seekin,
the wild beast in his lair.
Ane whale partakes in q measure of thu
character of both fish and land animals
breathing as the land mammalia. and Va,
aquatic, as the fish, which is cold bIooded
FISH do not breathe. When removed
from the water they soon die, The wba1a
must have air. If kept entirely undar
water they would drown. They are ca :.
paole of remaining under water almost on
hour, but their usual habit is to como to
Inc surface every eight or ten minutes W
Inc whale has no gilIs, but is provided
Win heart of two ventr;cles or cells and
an immense bony chest. The air is az
sh4lsted here, not, as many suppose. tbronrb
Ehe mouth. The throat is vsry small ~
x being able to swallow larger morsa1s
ian hundred foot whale. The nostrils
spliacles, are huge. They open on the
slmlt OF the head, small in breadth. Int
hp1 Twelve inches long. Through these
w whale can send volume of moist |
WI nifty feet high. When they breatbe |
"a. Nv under the surface of the ocean a |
siS samount of water is thrown into the
a. or, noise being heard sometimes at the
Vi Lur66 miles.
o.a per popularity about the class
5000 TO which the wonderful whale
o u1,puin grampus, porpoise, dugong and
o osners 6slong, is the level tail, which an.
49, 'nem to come to the surface to re-
sPlre. This they could not we'll do If
te sall was vertical The tail is also verv
Eoes WIN the assistance of the tail thew
loice themselves out of the water. In
f.. whales the surface of the tail is
peslmes one hundred square feet This
uee power Is defense as we'll as q
ILL., g, PROPULSION. In fact, the tail is
oatnd nse OF thls monster Often with n
q IoAe OF II large boat and all the
btah thrown into the water and the I
TIL - .Il 10 pieces. By the use of
t pleasure. When the animal tak ,sS a
sssendicular position in the watar anJ
10 the Sea, it sounds like the roar ~ r.
sh o pest. The head is immense HAM, ~
"DTTae third the entire bulk. wong tt
,ot OF lips, boys, nearly twentv foot
h assta mouth large enough to hold OF
narrd club! The throat, however. ia
thronpnly very small animals can nsss TT
wormEr ctlc sea whales feed on marina TIL
Some wy hsh, crabs and shrimps.
taatb les OF whale are destitute of Blu
several, whale-bone plates number
These i1red on each side of the mouth Blu,
| two tolrge whale will weigh nearly
which these are the ssstrainers
mails VII hthe water from the small ani
whale prm the nourishment of the
not tongue is soft, thick mass
month. beyond the back of the
J1: Id to be considarad vowel
sword fish whales worst enemy, the
the rest of only the tongue, leaving
is smooth ray untouched. The skin l
bristles abo ", with the exception of Gra
is q LAYER jaws. Beneath the skin hare
twenty inch "blubber," sometimes as il
own bulk ilck. 1t yields nearly it's littl
wrapper of ole, glu'inous OIL This men men
in the intenses the whale warm even l1ttl
G-aan1onf the polar seas wha
weld thirty tip sixty feet long will grea
outside. but uoil. No ear is seen that
OPENING for thehe skin is small SHOW
ewes are very smtion of sound. The arise
ing is very acut the sense of see. good
behind the ears le fins, which are full
four or Eve feet ble feet long and scare
in elastic mem brsrT They are enclosed morn
vided with boneshey are also pro- ., piano
number to the human In form and Nv! i've
Tho wha1a ia 4. ing a
twenty. five years oil grown until n ing,
very great age. Thy live until tiJs
flesh and drink the timaux eat the G e,oe.
is "s a - Sne To 10 Is when a wbsIo The
The Southern or caIclng: s ead ~
color. 1t is smaller tie is black in a aeu 8.
whale, it's length being Greenland r roumd
In the Northern seas W sixty feet. ho. ~
and ten feet long are fe hundred ~"
very daneeroEs to attacI hese are f.l1a.,
of the Southern seas is Rorqual h..4 ~;
Sno n"lu W e"p.u c1ba1oh about
supplies the spermaceti areas. 1t 80 -
commerce. rgris of t tun an an
An immense cavity in the cb;a sn .
cells filled with oil in fuimtains s1andcy,
death it takes a concrete FOL after raYn;nd
spermaceti. Ten barrels areyn as aha,,.
in this cavity. The Sperm pund wida ' =,
nish, several hundred of theslan- ,ars. " y
being found together. ally sh 1asI 10 y
The white or cream colored ahnnda
Arctic seas is extremely bea'he sho,t =
shape it resembles double co1In III. ~
beng shorter than the other. I'd ~ ~ ~
through the water with the velos f-o,,, q,
arrow Its food consists of cod} ~ oo,, -.
and smaller fish of the same varie NV 1itt1
On the Greenland coast they Gil "
tured in nets and then killed with nil .,o '.
The Deductor, another variety of craamv
has prominent head, short and honsa'
with something like pad over its rnckles,
Sixteen to twenty four feet is its le On r
ciSun s:Ie 'sh III oi1xnh. dno ent prs
shuts the teeth lock into each other. Ii 81,
Man is not the only enemy of the WI IN n,
An interesting story is told of q fghtI Chi
tween a whale and grampus, by CO ev
modore Wilkes. cat distance from In
ship whale was seen foundering in cir
most extraordinary manner, lashing Tan
sea into perfect foam, and evidentf II
trying to escape from something. AS hi;
the ship the struggle became |
more violent; it was then seen that fish,
twenty feet long held him by the jaws.
The agony of the monster was intense, the
enemy holding on and evidently getting
the advantage. The sea was dyed with
the whales blood for great distance
The grampus is called by the
sailors "a killer" They attack q whale
as a dog does bull, and worry him to
death. They are marvellously strong,
sometimes dragging whale from te.e
boats which are towing it to the ship. |
The saw fish and sword fish also combat |
the whale successfully. Whales are
strong in their attachment to each other
and to their young When a female
whale is wounded her companions never
desert her. She always joins her cub
when it rises to the surface for respira-
lion, losing all regard for her own safety
when it is attacked. While life remains
she will not desert her offspring 8. |
L. Thompson, in Home and School Visitor.