mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i3-013

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filled the sails, and resumed our former course to the NNE.
Having gone almost three miles, the boatswain suddenly cried
out from the forecastle that we were aiming directly for a
rock. We immediately tacked to starboard, and the sloop,
going about five knots, quickly swung into the wind and on
its right side almost touched the pseudo-stones, which turned
out to be two enormous sperm whales sleeping side by side on
the surface. From the noise made by the movement of the ves-
sel in breaking the waves, the monsters woke up, spurted from
their nostrils a whole cloud of stinking water spray, struck
their enormous tails on the surface, and sank into the ocean
depths.

The blunt-headed whale, or sperm whale, lives in hot and
temperate zones of the globe. In size, it is generally much bigger
than that of the northern, or sharp-snouted, whale. Its
monstrous, blunt head occupies a whole third of its body. Its
brain contains the precious spermaceti, and in it is often found
ambergris. The inhabitants of the United States who trade
with China vigorously pursue them. First, they sail to the
northwest shores of America to trade furs. From there they
return to the Sandwich Islands, load with sandalwood, and they
transport both these things, valued highly in China, to Canton.
There, they take tea and other goods and set out to hunt the
sperm whale. Supplementing their cargo with spermaceti, they
return home, or often go directly to France and England for
the sale of all that. Their absence is seldom less than three