Incidents of a whaling voyage : to which are added observations on the scenery manners and customs, and missionary stations of the Sandwich and Society Islands : accompanied by numerous lithographic plates . huge animal turned up or rolled over on his side, now harmless,the spoil of his daring captors. When there are other whales in sight, the capturedwhale is waifed, i. e., a rod of four or five feet inlength, bearing a little flag, is inserted into his carcass,which is now abandoned, and pursuit is given in anotherdirection. As the whale is a dark object, and rises butlittle above the surfac
Incidents of a whaling voyage : to which are added observations on the scenery manners and customs, and missionary stations of the Sandwich and Society Islands : accompanied by numerous lithographic plates . huge animal turned up or rolled over on his side, now harmless,the spoil of his daring captors. When there are other whales in sight, the capturedwhale is waifed, i. e., a rod of four or five feet inlength, bearing a little flag, is inserted into his carcass,which is now abandoned, and pursuit is given in anotherdirection. As the whale is a dark object, and rises butlittle above the surface of the sea, he is not readilydiscerned without this precautionary measure. In the course of half an hour, the second whale turnedup, and the boats abandoning the chase after the others,returned to the ship, towing the captured whales. The general appearance of the whale, is that of ahuge flabby mass, rising but little above the surface ofthe sea, and bending in conformity with the undulationsof the waves. The head and the back of the spermwhale are nearly in a line as far as the hiimp^ a thickprominence, rising above the ridge of the back. Thehead, in bulk, is nearly one third of the entire animal,. DESCRIPTION OF THE WHALE. 59 and is very angular in its outline with a small recedingunder jaw, set with firm short teeth, forty two in number,slightly curved inwards, at an interval of two or threeinches apart, while there are no teeth in the upper the upper angle of his head, is a cleft, closed at will,from which the confined air of the lungs is blown outwhenever the animal comes upon top of water, con-densed in a white mist, that vanishes in an the hump, the ridge of the back descends inirregular curves frequently, until it reaches the fiukes^or tail. The flukes are the most formidable weaponof the whale. Unlike those of fish, which are set verti-cally, the flukes of all whales are horizontal: at theirunion with the main body of the animal, the junctureis ve
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectwhaling, bookyear1841
