Читать книгу Life and Adventure in the South Pacific - John D. Jones - Страница 8

Table of Contents

Before proceeding farther, perhaps it will be interesting to the reader if we give a brief description of the external form of the sperm whale. The following draft represents the shape of the animal, and the various dotted lines show the manner of dividing it, in order to “heave it in on deck.”

A, the nostril, or spout-hole; B, the situation of the case; C, the junk; D, the bunch of the neck; E, the eye; F, the fin; G, the spiral strips, or “blanket-pieces;” H, the hump; I, the ridge; K, the small; L, the tail, or flukes; M, the jaw.

The head of the whale presents in front a thick, blunt appearance, and constitutes about one third the length of the animal. At its junction with the body is a protuberance on its back, called the “bunch of the neck;” immediately back of this is the thickest part of the body. It then gradually tapers for about another third of the whole length, when the “small,” as it is called, commences; and at this point on the back is another and larger prominence of a pyramidal form, called the “hump,” from which a series of smaller prominences runs half way down the small, forming the “ridge.” The body then contracts so much as to become not larger than the body of a man, and terminates by being expanded on the sides into the “flukes,” or tail. The flukes resemble somewhat in shape the tail of a fish, only being placed horizontal instead of perpendicular. In the larger whales these flukes are from eight to ten feet in length, and from fourteen to sixteen feet in breadth. The depth of the head and body is greater than the width.

At the angle formed by the superior and anterior surfaces of the head, a little on the left side, is the nostril, or “spout-hole,” which, in the dead animal, presents the appearance of a slit, or fissure, in form resembling an S, extending longitudinally, and about twelve inches in length. The “case,” situated in the upper part of the head, is a large, almost triangular-shaped cavity, lined by a beautiful glistening membrane, and covered by a thick layer of muscular fibres and tendons running in various directions, and finally united by common integuments. This cavity is for the purpose of containing and secreting an oily fluid, which after death concretes into a granulated substance of a yellowish-white color—the spermaceti. The quantity of fluid contained in the case depends on the size of the whale; from that of a large whale fifteen barrels of liquid spermaceti are often taken.

Immediately beneath the case, and projecting beyond the lower jaw, is situated the junk, which is composed of dense cellular tissue, strengthened by numerous strong tendons and fibres, and infiltrated with spermaceti.

The mouth is at the base of the head, and continues nearly its whole length. The lower jaw is pointed in front, and gradually widens till it is received in the socket of the upper jaw. It contains forty-two teeth, conical in shape, and, in the large whale, formidable in appearance. There are none, however, in the upper jaw, but indentations which receive the points of those in the lower jaw. Sometimes a few rudimentary teeth are found in the upper jaw, never, however, projecting beyond the gums, upon which those in the lower jaw strike when the mouth is closed.

The tongue is of a white color, exceedingly small, and does not appear to possess the power of very extended motion.

The mouth is lined throughout with a white membrane, which becomes continuous at the lips, and borders with the common integument, where it becomes of a dark brown or black color.

The eyes are small, and are furnished with eyelids. They are situated above and behind the angle of the mouth, at the widest part of the head. At a short distance behind the eyes are the external openings of the ears, of sufficient size to admit a small quill, and unprovided with any external auricular appendage.

The fins are not far from the posterior angle of the mouth, and are analogous in their formation to the anterior extremities of other animals. They are not much used as instruments of progression, but probably in giving a direction to motions in balancing the body, in sinking suddenly, and occasionally in protecting and supporting their young.

SPERM WHALE.

In a full-grown male sperm whale of the largest size the dimensions may be given as follows: Length, from eighty to ninety feet; depth of head, from ten to twelve feet; breadth, from seven to ten feet; depth of body, from sixteen to eighteen feet; swimming paws, or fins, about eight feet long and three broad; the tail, or flukes, have been previously mentioned.

In reviewing the description of the external form and some of the organs of the sperm whale, it will, perhaps, not be uninteresting if some comparison is instituted between them and the corresponding points of the right whale. One of the greatest peculiarities of the sperm whale, which strikes, at first sight, every beholder, is the apparently disproportionate and unwieldy bulk of the head; but this, instead of being, as might be supposed, an impediment to the freedom of the animal’s motion in his native element, is, on the contrary, in some respects very conducive to his lightness and agility. A great part of the bulk of the head is composed of a large, thin, membraneous case, containing, during life, a thin oil of much less specific gravity than water, below which again is the junk, which, although heavier than the spermaceti, is still lighter than the element in which the whale moves; consequently, the head is lighter than any other part of the body, and will always have a tendency to rise, at least so far above the surface as to elevate the nostril, or “spout-hole,” sufficiently for all purposes of respiration. In case the animal should wish to increase his speed to the utmost, the narrow anterior and inferior surface, which bears a resemblance to the cut-water of a ship, and which would, in fact, answer the same purpose to the whale, would be the only part exposed to the pressure of the water in front, enabling him thus to pass, with the greatest ease and celerity, through the boundless track of his wide domain.

RIGHT WHALE.

It is in the shape of the head that the sperm whale differs, in the most remarkable degree, from the right whale—the shape of whose head more resembles that of a porpoise—and in it the spout-hole is situated much farther back, rendering it seldom or never necessary for the nose to be elevated above the surface of the water. The eyes, in both the sperm and right whale, are exceedingly small in comparison with their bulk; still, they are tolerably quick-sighted. We are not aware that the sperm whale possesses, in any respect, any superiority. We again observe, in the formation of the mouth, a very remarkable difference in the two animals; for, in place of the enormous plates of whalebone which are found attached to the upper jaw of the right whale, we only find depressions for the reception of the teeth of the lower jaw, which plainly point out that the food of the two animals must be very different.

RIGHT WHALE BONE.

There are several prominences or humps on the back of the sperm whale, which constitutes another difference in their external aspect. These prominences are not altogether peculiar to the sperm whale, as there is a species of fish, called by whalemen “humpbacks,” which possesses a prominence on the back very similar to that of the sperm whale.

The skin of the sperm whale is smooth, but occasionally, in old whales, wrinkled. The color of the skin, over the greatest part of the body, is very dark. In different whales there is considerable variety of shade; some are even piebald. “Old bulls,” as full-grown males are called by whalemen, have generally a portion of gray on the nose above the fore-part of the upper jaw, and they are then said to be “gray headed.” In young whales the “black skin,” as it is called, is about three eighths of an inch thick, but in old ones it is not more than one eighth.

Immediately beneath the black skin is the blubber, or fat, which is contained in a cellular membrane, and which is much strengthened by numerous fibres. The average thickness of the fat on the breast of a large whale, when in good condition, is about eighteen inches. The “hump” is generally the thickest part of the blubber, being sometimes from twenty-two to twenty-six inches in thickness; and, in most other parts of the body, it measures from nine to fourteen inches. The head is not, however, supplied with this covering, or blubber, having only the black skin, which lies close to a layer of very dense cellular tissue, under which is seen a considerable thickness of numerous small tendons, intermixed with muscular fibres.

This thick covering of blubber, or fat, is called the “blanket;” it is of a yellowish color, and, when melted down, furnishes the sperm oil. It also serves two excellent purposes to the whale: rendering it buoyant, and furnishing it with a warm protection from the coldness of the surrounding element—in this last respect, answering well to the name bestowed upon it by whalemen.

CUTTING IN.