The cavity lying below the skull in the great square head of this whale is filled with spermaceti, which is fluid fat during the life of the animal. Up till as late as the middle of the eighteenth century this oil was regarded as the brain of the cachalot. The most valuable product yielded by the Sperm Whale is ambergris, which is a product of the intestinal canal. When first extracted it has a greasy feel and consistency, and then as it hardens it acquires its characteristic sweet, earthy odour. It is occasionally found floating at sea or washed up on beaches, and it is extraordinary how constantly lumps of fat or tallow thrown overboard by passing vessels get picked up on the shore and are eagerly seized by the finders, who think they have discovered a treasure. I have had numbers of such finds brought to me for identification. They nearly always turned out to be chunks of mutton-fat. The value of ambergris is very problematical—anywhere from 5s. to 10s. per ounce, probably. As far as I know, it is used only in connection with perfumery.
Professor Beddard says of the Sperm Whale, “Its food is chiefly cuttlefishes, and it is said to have a predilection for those colossal cuttlefishes whose existence has until recently been doubted. Mr. Bullen has sketched a conflict between these two giants of the deep. On the other hand, it is said that its large throat, more than big enough to swallow a man (this whale is credited with being that which swallowed Jonah) does not usually admit fishes larger than bonitos and albacores.” Bullen’s account of this fight is worth reading by all interested in these creatures. It is, of course, unsubstantiated, and the illustration which accompanies it is in part imaginary and taken from the description. But the account is probably correct, and the fact of their choice of food is well authenticated. In another part of his work, describing the contents of the mouth of a captured Sperm Whale, he writes: “In the maw there were, besides a large quantity of dismembered squid of great size, a number of fish, such as rock-cod, barracouta, snapper, and the like, whose presence there was a revelation to me. How in the name of wonder so huge and unwieldy a creature as the cachalot could manage to catch those nimble members of the finny tribe I could not for the life of me divine! Unless—and after much cogitation it was the only feasible explanation that I could see—as the cachalot swims about with his lower jaw hanging down in its normal position, and his huge gullet gaping like some submarine cavern, the fish unwittingly glide down it, to find egress impossible. This may or may not be the case; but I, at any rate, can find no more reasonable theory, for it is manifestly absurd to suppose the whale capable of catching fish in the ordinary sense, indicating pursuit.”
Whaling was a most profitable industry in these Islands a century ago. Waikouaiti was a well-known whaling-station when John Jones started his settlement there over seventy years ago. Otakou (or Otago) was another; and it is not so long ago that the old trying-down plant was still lying about Harrington Point. Stewart Island and Foveaux Strait, Tautuku Bay, and other sheltered spots on the coast were all originally settled by whalers. But these days are gone, and the whales themselves are comparatively rare. Whaling, however, is still carried on by motor-launch from Tory Channel and other places.
Besides the species I have mentioned, another, allied to the Sperm Whale, is occasionally met with. This is the Pigmy Whale (Kogia breviceps), which differs in various anatomical respects from its larger relative, but most markedly in its size, for it seldom exceeds 15 ft. in length.
Several species belonging to the family of beaked whales have been described from New Zealand waters by the late Sir James Hector and other naturalists. They are by no means common animals, but one reason of their rarity may be the fact of their being chiefly found right down in the Antarctic Ocean, where they are scarcely disturbed, as they have little commercial value.
Of the Porpoise Whale (Berardius arnouxi) only four or five specimens have been met with, yet it is the only well-known species of the genus. “It is 30 ft. to 32 ft. in length, and is of a velvety black colour, with a greyish belly. Instead of lowing like a cow, this whale has been described as ‘bellowing like a bull’!”
Of the genus Mesoplodon, which are known as Scamperdown Whales, some five species are said to occur in New Zealand. They are moderate-sized whales, 15 ft. to 17 ft. in length, which have a world-wide distribution.
Another whale, known as the Goose-beak Whale (Ziphius cavirostris) is probably the only species of the genus, and its distribution is also world-wide. Beddard says of it, “Our knowledge of Ziphius dates from the year 1804, when a skull, ‘completely petrified in appearance,’ was picked up upon the Mediterranean coast of France, and described by the great Cuvier. It was forty years before another specimen was found. In the New Zealand specimen described by von Haast the body was scored by numerous lacerations. These wounds may have been due to fights among the whales themselves; the forwardly-situated teeth would be capable of inflicting such wounds. But it has also been stated that the armed suckers of gigantic cuttlefish are responsible for these scratches.”
Every one who has travelled up and down the coast, and most who have sat by rocks overlooking the open ocean, are familiar with the schools of porpoises which are so common in these southern seas. It is interesting to watch them from the deck of a steamer, and to see how they dash along near the surface of the water with their peculiar gliding movement, curving their bodies as they plunge in and out of the water. They keep a wonderful regularity in their distance from one another, moving as if by mechanical means with a remarkable rhythmic movement. Bullen gives a short account of porpoise-hunting in the “Cruise of the Cachalot.” He states that these animals have “no skin—i.e., hide—the blubber or coating of lard which encases them being covered by a black substance as thin as tissue paper. The porpoise-hide of the boot-maker,” he adds, “is really leather made from the skin of the Beluga, or ‘White Whale,’ which is found only in the far north.” I cannot say whether this is accurate or not, for though I have frequently seen porpoises at close quarters I have never seen them cut up. Our species—Cephalorhynchus hectori—is usually from 5 ft. to 7 ft. long; it is quite distinct from the common European species, which, indeed, belongs to a totally different genus.