The professional world. (Columbia, Mo.) 1901-192?, 1903-05-08

of the old-time American whalers,
gives these as the dimensions of a
right whale yielding $50 barrels OF
oil:
1.-THE blubber of such a whale" he
lays, "is half a yard thick and If put
together in a strip would be &C feet
long and q feet wide. The upper jaw
would make a room 9 feet high and
20 feet long. The lips and throat OF
the brute, with the supporting jaw
bones, will weigh as much as twenty
five oxen of 1000 pounds each. The
tongue alone will often weigh as much
as ten oxen.
1.-THE spread of the lips is 80 feet.
He can take in fifty barrels Of water
at each mouthful. When feeding a
whale, a whale as big as that, Sits a
track of sea a quarter of a mile long
and Is feet wide in one run. Then he
raises his head, forces his mighty
tongue into the cavity Of his whale
bone sieve, and drives the water out
with immense force.
1.-THE tail of a right whale is rs feet
broad and 6 feet deep, and the point
Of junction with the body is about a
feet in diameter. In it lie tendons
as big around as a mans leg.
1.-THE greatest blood vessels are
more than a foot in diameter. The
blood that is forced through them by
a heart as big as a hogshead runs in
torrents heated to 104 degrees.
THE wind pipe is more than
a foot in diameter. The rush Of air
through it is as noisy as the exhaust
pipe of a thousand horsepower steam
engine; and when the fatal wound is
given, a cataract of clotted blood is
spattered over the hunters, so hot and
%nauseating that the crew of a whale
boat often becomes helplessly Sick"
So many American whalers are go.
ing to seek the big fish" in the Baffin
bay waters this season that the Cana
dian government has decided to char
ter a sealing steamer to cruise there
to prevent the Yankee from violating
Canadian customs laws" 1t looks as
If the "prostrated American industry"
were about to awaken to something
akin to vigor.
Years of more or less desultory
whaling have given the sea giants a
chance to ~recuperate. And that they
were not guilty Of race suicide during
klok 4;,oo 80 ,oef &c nraual hy tha co.
that whales are plentiful in all the
seas again.
For the rich American, eager to try
real sport, there is a great chance
now. Whaling, one of the Oldest
forms of big game hunting known, is
tho n field which has not yet been
fttingly exploited by the amateur
sportsman. In a time when lion and
tiger shooting are mere routine sport.
ing affairs to hundreds of wealthy
men, the whale should appeal with
great force.
The Nantucket Sleigh Ride.
To the man who has exhausted even
the delight of the siXty-mile-an-houI
automobile, there is an unlimited field
The chances are that if he once gets
an opportunity to Taste the unbridled
and terrific pleasure of a Nantucket
sleigh ride" he will view his auto ma
chine as a tame thing ever afterward
The Nantucket sleigh ride is SC
common an experience with whalers
that they are prone to speak of it in
disappointingly m~atter-of-fact Ian.
guage. But, for all that, there isn't
an old whaler of them all whose nos.
trils will not dilate with zest when he
thinks upon it. And the landsman who
ever has had the rare fortune t. ex
perience n is not likely to find any.
thing else in the rest of his life that
will not seem tame compared with it
Few landsmen ever have the oppor.
tunity. When a w%haleboat lowers to
fight a 60-foot whale the business is