The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-02-22
THE SPERM WHALE.
History of n Warm Blood. Asr-Breat HIN q
Animal of the Sea,

u
Animal of the Sea.
Australia is set in the midst of a
whale-frequ sea, and it is but nat
ural. therefore, that Sydney should
have the best collection of whales in
the world. and. when the government
has time TO attend to educational de-
tails, the scholars of earth will stand
amazed at the cetacean wealth.
The whale is not fish at all. IL Is
a warm blooded, air-brea thing. simple,
affectionate animal. 1t has descended
from a family which, ''once upon a
time had four legs, and lived upon
the land The law of nature is that il
any organ is not used it becomes afro
phied, useless, and finally disappears
If man uses his tongue too much, and
neglects his brain, the latter will be-
come atrophied. We can see that law
working to-day in New South Wales.
The whale family found that life was
too hard on shore, so the membe took
to the sea. A tail was of more service
there than hind legs, so the hind legs
gradually went out of fashion, and the
tail developed enormously. Then the
forepaws were gradually modified into
a monster fin.
The first time I noticed anything
peculiar about whale was off the
coast of Peru, a good many years ago.
We had harpooned large sperm whale
that had calf with her. and the whole
desire of the mother whale appeared 20
be to save her babe, which was about
twelve feet or fifteen feet long. When
the mother rose to the surface, gasping
for air, she tried to get the baby on TO
her great fin and carry her away from
the cruel hunters. but the rope attached
to the barpoon kept her back. She
had to give way to the merciless power
of her pursuers. and her frs ntic efforts
on behalf of her babe only FASTENED
her own doom. After she had covered
the sea with blood and foam, and lay.
FIN up in death, the little one came
alongside Of the dead mother and rub
bed its nose against the smooth, black
skin, and whistled pitifully to the one
that would answer nevermore. when
we had planted our flag on the dead
mothers body. and Gu. loose from our
harpoon. it became necessary 10 Kill
the little one A protest arose from
sll the crew for we were human be-
ings, with hearts as tender IS other
people and we were touched g. the
sight Of the baby whales grief; but
we had TO ubmit 20 see it harpoousd.
for its own sake. II had lost the
school of whales now, 20 which it,
mother belonged, and II would be
starved 10 death on the trackless sea,
or 1t would fall an easy victim 20 the
sword fish, tnreshers. sharks or other
pirates OF the sea
One Of the curious facts in the his
tory OF the whale came % light one
day IN the Pacific ocean. a good deal
nearer 20 sydney than nJ FIRST discov-
cry.
We were cutting IA large whale,
and came across an unborn calf. 1T
tie silkeB-skinned. beautiful totus. In
it, upper jaw there were signs OF
teeth. "a though i; belonged 70 prop
erly tootked family. IN th@ adult
whale there are teeth in the lower Jaw
only. and there are holes IN the upper
jaw into which they e. Before birth
TIE family characteristics appear. but
after birth the "a be loo<x Ike the rest
CO the existing whale family.
The whales are still carnirorous, ard
live on the animal life 81 The sea. or
sauid. and Sch. ard small crustac~a
and the present dental arrangements