66 FIGHT BETWEEN A WHALE AND A GRAMPUS.

Now was the time for vigorous lads to show
What love or honour could invite them to;
A goodly theatre! where rocks around

With rev'rend age and lovely lasses crowned.”

The deductor whale has a very prominent head, short and round, with something like a pad over its mouth, which gives it a peculiar appearance. In length it is from sixteen to twenty-four feet, and in circumference ten or eleven feet. Almost the whole body is black, smooth, and shining like oiled silk. When the mouth is shut, the teeth lock into each other like those of a rat-trap. They are generally very fat, and yield a large quantity of good pale oil.

It is impossible not to feel an emotion of pity for the whale-timid and inoffensive, with all its immense power for mischief, apparently unconscious of it until roused by danger-subjected to such cruel treatment by the cupidity of man: the deadly harpoons inflict tremendous wounds, and the blood, rushing in torrents from its sides, crimsons the sea for a wide space around. In the two following chapters I shall allude more particularly to this subject. The whale has, however, other enemies to contend with besides

Commodore Wilkes, in "The United States Exploring Expedition," gives an animated account of a sea-fight between a whale and a grampus, or "killer," as this fish is called by the Americans.

"At a distance from the ship a whale was seen floundering in a most extraordinary manner, lashing the smooth sea into a perfect foam, and endeavouring apparently to extricate himself from some annoyance. As he approached the ship, the struggle continuing and becoming more violent, it was perceived that a fish, apparently about twenty feet long, held him by the jaw, his contortions, spouting, and throes all betokening the agony of the huge monster. The whale now threw himself at full length from the water, with open mouth, his pursuer still hanging to the jaw, the blood issuing from the wound and dyeing the sea to a distance around; but all his flounderings were of no avail, his pertinacious enemy still maintaining his hold and evidently getting the advantage of him. Much alarm seemed to be felt by the other whales around. These 'killers,' as they are called, are of a brownish colour on the back,

OTHER ENEMIES OF THE WHALE.

67

and white on the belly, with a white dorsal fin. They attack a whale in the same manner as dogs bait a bull, and worry him to death. They are armed with strong sharp teeth, and generally seize the whale by the lower jaw. It is said that the only part of the huge monster that they eat is the tongue. The whalers give marvellous accounts of the immense strength of these 'killers.' They have been known to drag a whale from several boats which were towing it to the ship."

The saw-fish is also a most formidable assailant of the whale. The upper jaw of this fish is prolonged into a projecting flattened snout, the greatest length of which is about six feet, forming a saw, armed at each edge with about twenty large bony spines or teeth. Mr. Yarrel mentions a combat that occurred on the west coast of Scotland, between a whale and some saw-fishes, aided by an auxiliary force of "thrashers" (fox sharks). The sea was dyed in blood from the stabs inflicted by the saw-fishes under the water, while the thrashers, watching their opportunity, struck at the unwieldy monster as often as it rose to breathe.

The sword-fish is also said to attack the whale, furnished, also, with a powerful weapon for defensive or aggressive war, in the shape of a bony snout about four or five feet long, not serrated like the saw-fish, but of a much stronger consistency-in fact, the hardest material known,

Beset by powerful enemies, the whale must have a troublous existence; and if one thing can enlist our sympathies for these animals more than another, it is the well-known attachment they have to each other, and particularly for their young. It is said that when a female whale is wounded, her companions will remain around her until the last moment, or when they are themselves wounded. The whalers strike the young cubs, or "suckers," as they are called, not for their value, for these would hardly produce a barrel of oil, but the men know that the mother will start forth in their defence. She joins her cub at the surface whenever it has occasion to rise for respiration, encourages it to swim off, and seldom deserts it while life remains. She is then dangerous to approach, but affords frequent opportunities of attack. She loses all regard for her own

68 ATTACHMENT OF WHALES TO THEIR YOUNG.

safety in anxiety for the preservation of her young, dashes through the midst of her enemies, and even voluntarily remains with her offspring after various attacks on herself.

"In 1811," says Scoresby, "one of my harpooners struck a sucker with the hope of leading to the capture of the mother. Presently she arose close to the 'fast boat,' and seizing the young one, dragged about six hundred feet of line out of the boat with remarkable force and velocity. Again she rose to the surfacedarted furiously to and fro, frequently stopped short, or suddenly changed her direction, and gave every possible intimation of extreme agony. For a length of time she continued thus to act, though pursued closely by the boats, and, inspired with courage and resolution by her concern for her young, seemed regardless of the dangers around her. At length one of the boats approached so near that a harpoon was hove at her: it hit, but did not attach itself. A second harpoon was struck, but this also failed to penetrate; so that, in a few minutes, three more harpoons were fastened, and in the course of an hour afterwards she was killed."

Alas, for the poor whale! how sad it is to think of its torture and destruction while showing a degree of affectionate regard for its offspring which would do honour to human beings!

The poet Waller, in his "Battle of the Summer Isles," draws an affecting picture of these traits in the whale. Two of these animals, an old and young one, are embayed in the shallows :

"The bigger whale like some high carrack lay,
Which wanted sea-room with her foes to play;
This sees the cub, and does himself oppose,
Betwixt his cumber'd mother and her foes;
With desperate courage he receives her wounds,
And men and boats his active tail confounds;
Their forces join'd, the seas with billows fill,
And make a tempest though the winds be still.
Now would the men with half their hoped-for prey
Be well content, and wish this cub away:
Their wish they have; he (to direct his dam
Unto the gap through which they thither came)
Before her swims, and quits the hostile lake,
A prisoner there, but for his mother's sake:

ATTACHMENT OF WHALES TO THEIR YOUNG. 69

She, by the rocks compell'd to stay behind,
Is by the vastness of her bulk confined.
They shout for joy! and now on her alone

Their fury falls, and all their darts are thrown;
Their fixéd javelins in her sides she wears,
And on her back a grove of pikes appears;
Roaring, she tears the air with such a noise
As well resembled the conspiring voice
Of routed armies when the field is won,
To reach the ears of her escaping son.
He, though a league removed from the foe,
Hastes to her aid.-

The men amazed, blushed to observe the seed
Of monsters human piety exceed!

Their courage droops, and hopeless now they wish
For composition with th' unconquer'd fish;
Not daring to approach their wounded foe,
Whom her courageous son protected so.
The rising tide ere long their efforts aid,
And to the deep a passage for them made;
And thus they parted with exchange of harms,

Much blood the monsters lost, and they their arms."

阁

"Why stay we at home, now the season is come?
Jolly lads, let us liquor our throats:

Our interests we wrong if we tarry too long;
Then, all hands! let us fit out our boats.
Let each man prepare

Of the tackling his share,—

By neglect a good voyage may be lost.
Come, I say, let's away,-

Make no stay or delay,

For the winter brings whales on the coast!"

Old Ballad on the Greenland Fishery.

HE preparation for "a cruise among the whales" is very exciting; not so much as it used to be, because the

supply of oil from other sources, the general use of gas, and other circumstances, have diminished the necessity which formerly prevailed for a means of illumination. Still there is a considerable demand for the valuable products of the whale-the oil, the whalebone, the spermaceti, and the ambergris, which constitute essential articles of commerce.

The Arctic regions have for several centuries been the chief haunts of the whale fishery. There has been, however, of late years a great decrease in the number of whales, and the fishery as a speculation has become more precarious, for you can readily understand how, owing to the dangers which beset the Polar seas in these pursuits, and to which I shall call your attention in the next chapter, many vessels are destroyed and valuable lives lost.