We are assured that the flesh of the fin-backed whale is as well tasted, and, in every respect, as excellent, as that of the sturgeon. In most of the northern countries, both of Europe and America, the fins, the skin, and the tendons, all serve for many useful purposes.
There are other species of whales which are useful, in a certain degree, to mankind, for the oil that is yielded by their bodies; but few of them are objects of pursuit, on account of the difficulty there is in killing them, or of the very inferior quantity of oil which they afford. The blades of their whalebone are also too small to be of any use as an object of commerce.
120. The BLUNT-HEADED CACHALOT, or SPERMACETI WHALE (Physeter macrocephalus) is a marine animal from sixty to seventy feet in length, with large teeth in the under jaw, which fit into corresponding sockets of the upper jaw; the orifice of the spiracle single, and at the upper part of the extremity of the muzzle; and without any fin upon the back.
The head occupies about one-third of the length of the whole body. The colour of this whale is generally black, but, in the old animals, the under parts become whitish. The skin is smooth, oily, and almost as soft to the touch as silk.
It is most frequently seen in the northern ocean, in the latitudes of Greenland, Spitzbergen, and Iceland; yet it is occasionally observed off the British coasts, and sometimes even in the Mediterranean.
Lucrative as the several parts of these animals are, the whale-fishers have a great dread of them, in consequence of their astonishing activity in the water. Much care is requisite, in striking the harpoon, to keep the boats out of danger of being overturned, and great dexterity in following their track. From the relation given by the Danish voyagers Olafsen and Povelsen, it would appear that the spermaceti whales become occasionally so ferocious as even to seize the fishing boats with their teeth, and, in an instant, to destroy the whole crew. Notwithstanding all these dangers, so highly valued are they that they are searched for with much assiduity: and happy are the owners of those vessels which can obtain the greatest number of them.
The oil that is obtained from them is not in great quantity, but is of excellent quality. In burning it yields a bright flame, without exhaling any noxious smell.
The white and fatty substance known in our shops by the name of spermaceti is found in an immense cavity of the skull, distinct from that which contains the brain. This sometimes occupies nearly the whole front and upper part of the head, and, in some instances, is known to measure sixteen or eighteen feet in length. It is divided horizontally into two parts by a strong membrane, and each of these parts is again subdivided, by vertical membranes, into numerous cells, which communicate with each other, and contain the spermaceti. This, which is frequently mistaken for the brain, is sometimes found in such quantity as to fill eighteen or twenty butts. Whilst the animals are alive, the spermaceti is in a fluid state; but, when dead, it is found in somewhat solid lumps, and is of whitish colour. Spermaceti is of considerable use, medicinally, in pains and erosions of the intestines, in coughs, and other complaints. It is also applied externally in ointments, and for other purposes. It is converted into a very beautiful kind of candles, which appear to be a medium between those made of wax and tallow. Good spermaceti is in fine white flakes, glossy, and semi-transparent, soft, and unctuous to the touch, yet dry and easily friable, in taste somewhat like butter, and of faint smell, not much unlike that of tallow. If exposed to the air, it soon becomes rancid and yellow. Its quality and colour may however be recovered by steeping it in alkaline liquors, or in a sufficient quantity of spirit of wine.
The flesh of this kind of whale is of pale red colour, appears not much unlike coarse pork, and is not unpalatable as food. The skin, intestines, and tendons, are all useful to the inhabitants of the northern countries of Europe. The tongue is considered excellent eating. The teeth are formed into the heads of spears and arrows, and may even be used as ivory; the bones are sometimes applied as timber for tents and cottages; and a very tenacious glue or size is manufactured from the fibres of the flesh.
It is to these, and some other animals nearly allied to them, that we are indebted for the drug or perfume called ambergris. This is generally found in the stomach, but sometimes in the intestines, and in lumps from three to twelve inches in thickness, mixed with many substances very different from itself, such as macerated vegetables, the remains of marine shell-animals, the bones and other hard parts of fish; and the ambergris itself frequently contains the beaks or jaws of different species of sepiæ, or cuttle-fish. The latter are the cause of those yellowish, whitish, or dusky spots that are often observable in this drug. As we see it in the shops, ambergris is an opake substance, which varies in solidity, according to its exposure to a warm or cold atmosphere. It is however, in general, sufficiently hard to be broken. Its smell is extremely powerful and agreeable to some persons, but unpleasant and even nauseous to others. When first taken from the stomach or intestines of the animals which produce it, ambergris is quite soft to the touch; and, as may well be conjectured from the situation in which it is found, has a fetid and most disgusting smell; but after it has, for some time, been exposed to the influence of the atmosphere, it becomes harder, and yields the powerful and peculiar odour by which it is characterized.