I told you that he was obliged to rise to the surface of the water to breathe. You would like to see him ascend for this purpose, and snort out a jet of thick vapour to the height of twenty feet, or more, and making such a noise, as may be heard at a distance of several miles.
Under the skin, all over the body, there is a covering of yellowish fat of about a foot thick, which keeps the animal warm, answering the same purpose as the fur does on land animals. It is necessary, because the whale is not cold in the inside like other fish, but has warm, red blood, which is of a higher temperature even than that of a human being. This is another circumstance which becomes the more remarkable from the cold climate in which he lives.
This fat is generally called blubber, and is what the oil comes from. When first it is taken from the whale, it has not the least unpleasant smell, and it is not till the cargo is unstowed that a whale ship is at all disagreeable.
The largest sort of whale is called the razor back, from a ridge that runs along his back. They are often 100 feet in length. I never saw one of these taken, but the sailors told me that they were very difficult to come near, and after all, not worth the trouble of killing, for they have very little blubber.
Then there is the Cachalot, or Sperm Whale, which is smaller, and much more slender than the common whale. It has teeth, and is of a very quarrelsome temper. It often fights with its own kind, and I have seen several of them which had been wounded in the jaws, and made blind by such conflicts. It is from the head of this animal that spermaceti is obtained.
A number of vessels are sent out every year to catch these great creatures, and this is the way in which they manage their work. Every vessel is furnished with five or six boats which are hung on the sides of the vessel in such a way as to be easily lowered into the water on the shortest notice. One or two of the boats are usually kept upon the look out, in each of which there is a harpoon attached to a rope above 700 feet in length, and about as thick as a man's thumb. This is the shape of the harpoon.
When they see a whale showing himself above the surface of the water, the man who is to throw the harpoon, stations himself at the bow, and the rest pull away as fast as they are able till they approach the whale as near as possible, and this is often to within a very short distance in consequence of his being slower of hearing than most other animals.