Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-07-17

as IL rs usual to term the Greenland
whale and the southern whaIehoro
whaie, are so termed on account of tho
1act that they are the right kina 80
wnaie Tor the whaler to attack. .ba;r
whalebone is finer and longer thar -.
OF others. and the oil is more ahun1,nt
ahu OF superior quality. The length of
a risnt Whale is so to 65, rarely 70
ieet; mead one-third of the length sof
the bcdy; whalebOne. 10 to II feet in
ienRth color. black. under part of law
white; IL pairs of ribs. This whale is
purely polar species or 800 IN
d'Viduals. in the capture of which
Scoresby was himself concerned MT =,
single one exceeded 60 feet in Ienyt,
Inc largest ever measured by him was
only 5S feet. Though the whale is
usually black, Scoresby relates that he
mas seen specimens that were pieba,d
al ovcr-an exaggcration of the &C.
casional white tracts that are normal
of the species
The whale has no voice. though II
usually makes a loud noise i'm spout
lnG. IT sWims slowly, usually at the
rate or -FOUR miles an hour, but when
diving II reaches a velocity of seven
TO nine miles an hour. This velocity
and The momentum acquired are so
great that whales have been known to
dive to the bottom of water Il mile in
depth and to break the lower Jaw bv
the violence Of the impact. The time
which whales can remain under
water has been also exaggerated 1t
has been asserted that they can en-
durc submersion for many hours
AS general rule. five or ten minutes
is the period, varied by two minutes
breathing space; but. when feeling.
- or 20 minutes is not unusual
Scoresby mentions harpooned whale
as having dived for Il period of 40
minutes. and Scammon assigns one
hour and twenty minutes as the limit
Of endurance.
The Greenland whale produces sin
gle foal CT sucker" at a birth, the young
creature, when born, being 10 to II
feet long. The mother does not desert
Il until the expiration of a wear or so.
and the amount of maternal affection
exhibited has often been commented
upon. Scoreshy remarks that there
is something extremely painful in the
destruction Of whale when .hus
evincing n degree of affectionate re-
gard for its offspring that would do
honor to the superior intelligence of
human beings. This whale is not
really Cregarious: when n number are
seen together, it is an accident due to
their having congregatcd at the same
feeding: spot
There are various thrilling stories of
adventure with harpooned whales hut
il seems that the dangers are not due
to any ferocity on the part Of the ami
NAL itself. which is one of the most
timid of beasts-markedly unlike the
fierce and malicious Californian
whale. The accidents that have hap
pened to the whalers are simply due
to the struggles of the great beast
when harpooned. which arc not pur-
poseiy directed at its enemies at all.
But since whale of SO feet in length
would weigh 100 tons it is not at all
surprising that the lashing of its tail
ard it's terrified rushes may prove cx-
tremely dangerous.
Matthew Samuel. boatswain Of whaling
schooner Charles II. Hodcdon. VINO. with
been lost at sea last December. arrived
when She put into Cape Verde islands re
ported that six of her crew who had
struck a whale had been towed off To sea
by the animal.
wv struck ihc whale about o'clock in
The afternoon" said Samuel He kept
u running until about 5.,A o'clock. when
he III, d. He had tOwcd us about ~ miles
from the schooner. We searched i'll vain
for the schooner ~ that night ana all the
next day We had no provisions except
roo sg,sl, 4 rT l.T
small kcg OF water. We could not eat
the crackers. however. because they got
wet and salt water spoiled them. All w
were allowed IT, do was to take a little sin
days.
''Early in the morning of the seventh
day We slcc. odri in hailiuc Portuguese
steamer TIL" captain bore down upon Tx
and stopped WIIhin a few yards uf our
boat. We could hear them talking WY
plainly on the steamer. Instead of hclp-
ing us. however. the captain uu. out his
lights and steamed away.
Later on during that terrible seventh
day W. sighted a school of hlacktish. |
struck one Of them and cut all tho meat
off. slicinE il into small pieces. We nut
thcm into bucket ana let thc sun dry
the oil oIt We had to drink the oil in
stead "f water. When We had been out
IL. DAYS we sighted the French bark
AdOIph. which rescued us. The second
mate. together with King. Carlos and
Manuel were exhausted. and were lifted
ABOARD. SILVA tUct Two DAYS after MS
rescue. We We're taken to Genoa, and
from there | worked my way home.
Among the toOthed whales the c1Cha-
lot corresponds to The right whale. Their
ar" giants and pigmicS among the fami-
Ii,s IF each. AmhcrEriS is Il well known
uruduct Of this wha q. Though the name
has obviously no connection with this
qualify. amhcrsris is a somcw LAT greasy
substance found hoa iinc in the sea or
more generally washed ashore. IT is a
secretion of the intestine of the ciChaioU
comparable apparently To bcznar stones
I nc fact that this substance was fpunu
TO contain tn, bcaks Cf cuttlrtiSh suggc Z
ed its origin, which was confirmed by
finding il actually in the alimcntarv canal
OF 4 cachalot. !. hen taken from the al
imcntary canal. the subs anCc is greasy
and of Il dsagrceablc smell. After cN-
posure IL hardcns and acquires it's pc
cuIiar sweet carthy odor. | $ appear
ance in whales is pathological and not
ma tura. for those individuals in which Il
ton. Ambergris has been used as a med
icinc, but is now solely used in perfum-
CRY. II is worth from 81 to S6 per oEnce
\ piece of ambcrgriS has been found
worth 10 less than $500. il weighed l3e
pounds.
Possibly 60 feet is in the outside total total
length of mae sperm whale. The color
is black sc ting gray beneath. The blow I
hole is single. and is near the front Of
the snout. The tail is very deeply CLEFT.
termnaiy. and one Zap lies over the 9th
or The sperm whale feeds mainly upon
cuttlefish but fishes have hecn found to
be eaten also II fs said to feed by drop
ling its polished white teeth. which at
tract within rs reach the swimming food,
while the creature moves along through
the ocean's depths Its food is never ap-