The Opelousas courier., 1894-10-13
WHALES AND THEIR YOUNG.
Affection. of the Mother Whales-Fidelity
of the Tribe to Each Qther.


Capt, Seoresby relates how one Of
his hafpoohers; having struck d youfg
whale i'll order to secure the mother,
saw her instantly rise, wrap her flip
pers round her young one, and descend,
dragging about six hundred feet of
line cut of the boat with marvellous
force and velocity. again she rose to
the surface, darted furiously to and
fro. frequently stopped short, or sud
denly changed her direction. giving
every possible intimation of agony.
The boats continued to pursue her
closely for a length of time. while she.
poor creature, seemed utterly regard
less Of the DANGERS which surrouaded
her. At last ote of the boats APP
preached SC near that a harpoon
was thrown at her, then a second har-
poon and a third. still she did not at
tempt to escape, but allowed the
other boats to approach. so that more
harpoonS were attached, till in the
course of an hour the poor animal was
killed. Though there something
painful ii PIG ~dde1F5erate destruction Of
a creature evincing such heroic affec-
ton for its offspring, yet this'feeling
of compassion quickly gave way to the
object of the adventure, the valse of
the prize and the exciting JOY of the
capture.
The fidelity of the male and female
whale to each other exceeds that OF
most animals. Anderson, in his His
tory of Greenland" mentions hat some
fishermen. having struck one or two
whales, a male and female that were in
company together, the wounded crea-
ance. Wish a single blow of its tail it
upset a beat containing three men, by
which they all went to the bottom.
When another boat came up the other
whale still remained by it's companion
and lent it every assistance, till at last
the wounded victim sank under the
number and severity of it's wounds.
while its faithful partner. unable to
survive its loss, stretched herself upon
the body of her mate and calmly shared
it's fate.
To the G~reenlanders. as we'll as to
the natives of southern climates. the
whale is an animal of vast Importance:
and these people devote much of their
time to fishing for it. When they set
out on their whale-catching expedi-
ton they dress themselves in their
best apparel, imagining that, if they
are not clearly and neatly clothed, the
whale, which detests d dirty, slovenly
garb, would certainly avoid them.
In this about fifty persons.
men and women, set out together in
n of their large boats. The women
take with them their needles. thread
and other implements, to mend their
husbands clothes, in case they should
be torn, and to repair the boat if it
should happen to receive any damage.
When the men discover a whale they
strike at it with their harpoons, to
which are fastened tubes two or three
fathoms long, made of sealskin inflated
with air.
The huge animal. by means Of this
kind of bag, is in some degree COM
peeled to keep near the surface of the
water. When he is fatigued and rises,
the men attack him with their spears
till he is killed. Then they put on
their spring jackets, made all of one
piece, of a dressed sealskin, with their
boots, gloves and caps, which are laced
so tightly to each other that no water
can penetrate them. Thus attired they
plunge into the sea and be gin to slice
body, even from those parts that are
under water, for, their jackets being
full of air, the men do not sink, and
are able to keep themselves upright.
standing, as it were it were. in the sea.
At landowners island the storm
blowing directly from the North Pacific,
bring many whales, which, getting out
of their ATTITUDES and fatigued with
fruitless struggles, are cast upon the
coast. As the receding tide leaves the
whales they lash their tails, unable to
regain deep water, and make a low,
gutteral sound as they vainly try to
spout. The native canoes, which are
made of the trunk of a tree followed
out by fire, are instantly launched. The
only weapon used is a barbed spear, to
which is tied a seal-skin bag filledwith
air, and to this a rope made of seaweed
is attached, acting as an anchor to the
bladder OF rope. A pole is fitted into
a socket in the spear head, and SO ar
ranged that ittean be easily withdrawn,
leaving the head imbedded in the body
of the whale.
Armed with these primitive weapons.
the natives set off in their fragil ca
noes and cast their spears, catching
back the loose handles. In a short time
the monster is covered with sealskin
bags. When the tide begins to rise,
the bladders prevent the whale from
sinking sufficiently to use his full
strength, keeping him on the surface
of the water. As the canoe men pull
to the shore the lines are frightened and
gradually the poor animal moves slow
ly and steadily to the land. His strug-
giles to free himselfare tremendous, but
all in vain; struggling as a fish out of
water, he is hopelessly in the power of
his liliputian foes. The inhabitants
for miles around crowd to the shore.
singing and beating drums made of the
hollow bole of a tree, over which is
stretched the skin of a sea lion As
soon as a whale is brought beyond low
water mark the work is done. and they
have only to wait till the tide leaves it
high and dry.-The Month.
FATIGUE OF METALS.