One Very Dead Whale

And the Trouble it Caused

By D.M.

IN the drab, uncertain light of a stormy morning (at Vella Lavella, Solomon Islands) recently, my attention was drawn to what appeared to be an out size in logs, adrift in the bay.

It was so unusually large that I examined it with binoculars. Seen through the glass, the flotsam seemed more nearly to resemble a vessel float ing bottom up, and I decided to investi gate at closer range. A boat was launched and manned, and we set out to discover what manner of tragedy had taken place.

Arrived within hailing, or rather, smelling distance of the object, the crew became restive under the stimulus to olfactory senses. “Oil fish! Oil fish!” they shouted excitedly: and an “oil fish,” or whale, it proved to be, of considerable tonnage and unmistakably defunct. by this time, the unwelcome visitor had stranded on an inshore reef, and as it had touched bottom so recently I thought it might be possible to tow the monster out to the ocean current and speed it on its malodorous way.

A rope was made fast to the huge tail —or what the sharks had left of that appendage—and we levered and tugged lor an nour. The mammal budged not an inch. It had obviously given up a seafaring career and, satisfied with a near-shore location, settled down with tne malevolent intention of stinking us out.

Whilst I pondered a plan of campaign, a member of the crew became reminis cent. A whale had once come ashore in Ins “passage” on Malaita; it was “fresh,” and in that condition the flesh was good eating. The tribe feasted generously on this gift from Neptune, and as a con sequence their movements could easily be traced for weeks afterwards. Indeed, the more observant became so expert in the art of diagnosis that they claimed to be able to identify individual oil patches. But the most disturbing legacy was the aroma from what remained of the carcase, which tainted the atmos phere almost unbearably for many months.

Appalled at such a perfumed prospect, I determined that my “oil fish” should have strictly limited opportunities in that direction. If the monster would not depart in a piece, it must do so in pieces.

A dozen brawny Malaita men hailed the proposition with joy; it appealed to a latent instinct for destruction, besides promising a pleasurable break from the monotonous round of plantation work.

They set to with a will, wielding axes, knives and other improvised surgical instruments. It was manifest that knowledge of the fine points of whale carving was lacking, and the technique displayed would probably give experts of the Antarctic a “pain in the neck.

Nevertheless, they gradually worked their way into the interior, hacking off large chunks, which were towed away.

Sometimes, these morsels reached the open sea; occasionally, tit-bits would be snapped oft the lines by pursuing sharks. ai times, the boys "on board ' the whale almost disappeared from view, i tnought of Jonah's adventure, and was convinced that if the hero of the fame succeeded in navigating the gunet ne would not lack accommodation amidsnipo.

At one stage of the post-mortem, when several boys, up to tneir waists m water, were slashing at tne outer nuu of tne whale, they were chased by a shark, which evidently resented numans butting in on his banquet. They eiuaed it by scrambling into a boat; but tne shark, intent on the hunt, was exceeding the speed limit, and beiore the brakes could be applied it stranded in shoal water.

The commotion and threshing that en sued were ternhc. Tne water was churned, and spray sent hying as oy tne propellers of a liner, hiventuaiiy, tne m innated brute succeeded in hurling itsen into a deep cnannel and, apparently scared, made on at great speed. .butchering and towing operations oc cupied three strenuous, odoriferous days, adverse weather conditions hampering tne work to some extent.

The mammoth head had sunk into the sand and coral. When at last it was levered out and towed away —the last instalment—l drew a long, deep breath.

The air tasted much sweeter and added piquancy to the delectable “Jimmy Woodser” that was the necessary and logical finale to the mammalian drama.