So assured, indeed, is the fact concerning the periodicalness of the sperm
whale's resorting to given waters, that many hunters believe that,
could he be closely observed and studied throughout the world;
were the logs for one voyage of the entire whale fleet carefully collated,
then the migrations of the sperm whale would be found to correspond in
invariability to those of the herring-shoals or the flights of swallows.
On this hint, attempts have been made to construct elaborate migratory
charts of the sperm whale.*
*Since the above was written, the statement is happily borne
out by an official circular, issued by Lieutenant Maury,
of the National Observatory, Washington, April 16th, 1851.
By that circular, it appears that precisely such a chart is in course
of completion; and portions of it are presented in the circular.
"This chart divides the ocean into districts of five degrees
of latitude by five degrees of longitude; perpendicularly through
each of which districts are twelve columns for the twelve months;
and horizontally through each of which districts are three lines;
one to show the number of days that have been spent in each month
in every district, and the two others to show the number of days
in which whales, sperm or right, have been seen.
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