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Source 6: A Whale’s Tale: Excerpts from The Annual Reports of the Raffles Museum and Library, Newspaper Accounts and Visitors’ Memories
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A Whale’s Tale 179 179 Correspondence Mr. Justice Wood, Mr. Harwood, the Acting Attorney-General and Mr. Rodesse returned by the Sea Belle from Malacca yesterday. A large whale, some 35 feet long, was seen by the Bengkalis on their last trip to Muar, the animal having been stranded on the beach near the Kesang River, nine miles to the north of Muar. Hearing that there was a strange animal spouting water a little distance away, Capt. Angus went out in a boat and examined the monster, apparently a male, which had been dead some few days, and was even then in a highly savoury condition. The whale was stranded some eight days ago, and took about four days time in which to make up its mind and draw its last breath. Its presence caused no little consternation amongst the natives, who dreaded to approach it. —The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 25 June 1892, p. 2 Muar News (From our Correspondent) 25th June, 1892 Boatmen from Malacca brought word the other day that fish of monstrous size (ikan besar skali) had been stranded upon the shore on the coast a little to the northward of the Kessang river; the exaggerated descriptions excited a deal of curiosity sufficient to induce people to go in a steam launch in quest of this monster of the deep. Accordingly, on Friday afternoon, a party left Muar including the Resident, Ungku Suleiman, and other chiefs of the place. On nearing the spot, somewhere about Sebatu in Malacca the carcase came in sight at a distance. The party found much difficulty in getting near it owing to the depth of mud around. They found that it was the carcase of a whale. It’s extreme length was 44 feet, unfortunately it was on it back and the upper surface of the head was imbedded in the soft mud so that no observations could be made as the existence of a dorsal fin &c.—it bulked largely being about 9 feet SOURCE 6 A Whale’s Tale: Excerpts from The Annual Reports of the Raffles Museum and Library, Newspaper Accounts and Visitors’ Memories 180 Nature Contained high—at its greatest girth. The carcase was rather offensive and swollen with gases from decomposition, so that the notes taken by those who came near enough were rather hurriedly made. It is said that some of the Malacca officials had been to inspect it before, so that fuller details may be unavailable. It is hoped that the steps will be taken for the securing the skeleton for the Raffles’s Museum. None of the Malays call to mind ever having seen such a creature before. —The Straits Times Weekly, 29 June 1892, p. 9 The skull of the whale (Megaptera boops?) in the Museum collection had so far been with only scanty information as to its origin, and as through the kindness of Mr. M. HELLIER, Acting Sub-Inspector of Schools, Malacca, I have succeeded in obtaining some interesting details, it is as well to put them on record. Mr. HELLIER who got his information from the Pengulu of Sa’ Batu partly orally and partly from the man’s diary, writes:—“The whale was left stranded at a place called Sa’Batu about eighteen miles to the south of Malacca town on 19th June, 1892. A ‘pagar’ was built round it to prevent it getting back to sea at high tide. The diary give the dimensions as about seven ‘depas’ long and one ‘depa’ wide (1 depa = 6 feet). The whale took a week to die making a great noise for about three days. Nothing was done with the blubber. Mr. HERVEY, the Resident, gave a ‘hadiah’ to the Penghulu and others and took the skeleton.”The rest of the skeleton, although not quite complete, is still in the Museum and will be mounted as soon as space is available. —R. Hanitsch, Annual Report on the Raffles Library and Museum for the Year 1905 (Singapore: Government Printing Office, 1906), pp. 3–4. MUSEUM 7. The removal of the zoological collection building, begun at the end of November 1906, was continued during the first few weeks of the year, and on Chinese New Year’s day, February 13th, the new gallery was opened to the public. Within a few minutes of throwing open of the doors both the new and the old galleries were filled to over-flowing by dense masses of Chinese holiday makers, and the interest in...