According to Mr. Bennett, the austral smooth-back seldom attains a greater length than fifty feet; but as it yields on an average from eighty to ninety barrels of oil, its capture amply rewards the whaler’s trouble. Though met with in the highest latitudes, and roaming over the whole extent of the Antarctic Seas, it resorts in spring to the sheltered bays of New Zealand, Australia, Kerguelen’s Land, Chili, the Falkland Islands, Algoa Bay, etc., for the purpose of bringing forth its young. This of course makes its capture easier, but must at the same time lead to its extirpation, or drive it to the most inaccessible regions of the Polar Ocean. Even now the whale-fishery of the southern seas, which twenty or thirty years ago employed hundreds of vessels, has much diminished in importance: it is chiefly carried on by the Americans, the French, and our Australian colonies, which have the advantage of being more conveniently situated than the mother-country.
In the higher latitudes of the Antarctic zone the hunch-back and fin-back whales abound; but as the former is meagre and hardly worth the boiling, and the latter, like the rorquals of the north, dives with such rapidity that he snaps the harpoon-line or drags the boat along with him into the water, they are seldom hunted. Hence they will most likely continue to prosper in their native seas, unless the improved missiles recently introduced in the whale-fishery can be made to conquer them. The hunch-back is distinguished by the great length of his pectoral fins, which extend to full eighteen feet, while these organs are comparatively small in the fin-back. A kind of broad-nosed whale likewise makes its appearance in the Antarctic Seas, but it is not yet determined whether all these fin-backed whales of the south are distinct species from those of the Arctic waters. A circumstance which seems to speak for their identity is that fin-backs are met with in the intervening temperate and tropical seas, so that no limits appear to have been set to their excursions.
The sperm whale, or cachalot, though partial to the equinoctial ocean, is also found in the cold Antarctic waters. It was met with by Sir James Ross among the icebergs in 63° 20´ S. lat.; and near Possession Island (71° 50´ S. lat.), where the hunch-backs were so abundant that thirty were counted at one time in various directions, and during the whole day wherever the eyes turned their blasts were to be seen. A few sperm whales were also distinguished among them by their peculiar manner of blowing or spouting.
Among the dolphins of the Antarctic Ocean we find a species of grampus no less formidable and voracious than that of the northern seas. On January 20, 1840, the American ship “Peacock,” while cruising in the Antarctic waters, witnessed a conflict between one of them and a whale. The sea was perfectly smooth, so that the whole combat could be distinctly seen. At first the whale was perceived at some distance from the ship lashing the water into foam, and apparently making desperate efforts to shake off some invisible enemy. On approaching, they found that an enormous grampus had seized it with its jaws. The whale vainly turned and twisted itself in every direction, and its blood tinged the water far around. The grampus had evidently the advantage, and the other whales, of which there were many in sight, instead of assisting their comrade, seemed only intent on their own safety. The grampus had a brown back, a white abdomen, and a large fin on its back. The speed at which the monstrous animals shot through the water prevented the Americans from witnessing the issue of the fight. The classical dolphin of the ancients has been seen near the Cape of Good Hope, and most likely wanders far to the south, as he is proverbial for his arrow-like rapidity, and can easily traverse a couple of hundred miles in a single day. In the Strait of Magellan and about Cape Horn are frequently seen the Delphinus superciliosus, whose turned-up mouth-corners give his countenance a peculiarly benevolent and friendly expression, belied by his ravenous propensities, and the Delphinus leucoramphus, who, like the bjeluga of the north, has no dorsal fin, and by the liveliness of his movements emulates the classical dolphin of the Mediterranean.
The seal family plays a no less important part in the zoology of the Antarctic Seas than in that of the northern waters. Here we find the monstrous sea-elephant (Macrorhinus elephantinus), so called not only from his size attaining a length of twenty-five feet, and a girth at the largest part of the body of from fifteen to eighteen, but also from the singular structure of his elongated nostrils, which hang down when he is in a state of repose, but swell out to a proboscis a foot long when he is enraged. This gives the animal a very formidable appearance, which, along with his bellowing and his widely-gaping jaws armed with tusk-like canines, might strike terror into the boldest heart. But in reality the sea-elephant is a most defenseless creature, for on land it moves its unwieldy carcass with the utmost difficulty, and a single blow upon the snout with a club suffices to stretch it lifeless on the ground. It used to be met with in considerable numbers on all the flat shores or islands between 35° and 62° S. lat., but as it yields a large quantity of excellent oil, and as its skin, though merely covered with thick short bristles, is of some value from its great strength and thickness, incessant persecution has greatly thinned its ranks, and in some parts extirpated it. Thus Sir James Ross relates that the sea-elephant and several other species of seals, which were formerly in great abundance at Kerguelen’s Land, annually drew a number of fishing-vessels to its shores. But at the time of his visit (1840), after so many years of slaughter, they had quite deserted the place. The flesh of the sea-elephant is black, and of an oily taste, but Anson and his companions, after having been tossed about for several months on a tempestuous sea and reduced to great distress by scurvy, relished it at Juan Fernandez. The tongue is said to be a great delicacy.
As the soft jet-black fur of the young southern sea-bear (Arctocephalus falclandicus) is no less valuable than that of its northern relative, the eagerness with which it is pursued may easily be imagined. Formerly vast herds of sea-bears used to resort every summer to the New Shetland Islands, but soon after the rediscovery of the group the American and English sealers made their appearance on its desolate shores, and in the short time of four years extirpated the ursine seals, thus destroying by wasteful destruction what might have been a permanent source of profit.
The southern sea-lion (Otaria jubata) is a larger animal than his northern namesake; and while the latter is furnished only with an erect and curly hair-tuft at the neck, a complete mane flows round his breast. The remainder of the tawny body is covered with short smooth hairs or bristles. The sea-lioness, who is much smaller than her mate, has no mane; and as she is of a darker color and has a differently shaped head, is frequently mistaken for another species, and called wolf, or lobo, by the inhabitants of the south-western coast of America. The fore flippers of the sea-lion have the appearance of large pieces of black tough leather, showing, instead of nails, slight horny elevations; the hind fins, which are likewise black, have a closer resemblance to feet, and the five toes are furnished with small nails. It is a formidable-looking beast, particularly when full grown to a length of ten feet and more. The sea-leopard (Leptonyx Weddelli), which owes its name to its spotted skin, is peculiar to the southern seas. This large seal is from eight to nine feet long; the hind feet have no nails, and greatly resemble the tail of a fish.
The Antarctic seals, dolphins, and petrels chiefly prey upon a genus of fish discovered at Kerguelen’s Land, and named Notothenia by Dr. Richardson. These fish, which are of an elongated eel-like shape, conceal themselves from the persecutions of their enemies in the small cracks and cavities of the pack-ice, and were frequently noticed by Sir James Ross when driven from shelter by the ship as it struck and passed over their protecting pieces of ice. They in their turn live upon the smaller cancri and limacinæ, and these again upon creatures of a still more diminutive size, until finally the chain of created beings terminates in the diatoms,[23] which are found filling these seas with the minutest forms of organic life.