YOUNG OF SIBBALD'S RORQUAL 73 



YOUNG OF SIBBALD'S RORQUAL 

 (BAL^ENOPTERA SIBBALDIiy 



By J. A. HARVIE-BROWN. 

 PLATE IV. 



WHEN in Eide Fjord, Faroe, in June 1894, we na cl an 

 opportunity, thanks to Herr Gron, of inspecting the whaling 

 steamer " Urd," and upon the 25th we had the further oppor- 

 tunity, of which we also fully availed ourselves, of inspecting 

 the whole station, and of seeing a specimen of a " Blue fish," 

 (Balcenoptera sibbaldii} towed in, hauled up, and flensed, etc. 



This specimen was a female, 60 feet long, including whole 

 side measurements, and was not reckoned a large one. The 

 great harpoon was buried haft deep in the back on the left 

 side, and had passed below the back bone, smashed up the 

 aorta, but, most fortunately, missed doing injury to the womb. 



Flensing had proceeded till the " blanket " had been 

 removed from the entire right side : and now, the huge 

 carcase, resting on the belly, on being slightly pulled over 

 by the crane, burst open ; and a river of blood and entrails 

 ensanguined the sea for a distance of at least forty or fifty 

 yards. The great jaws had been severed and hauled up 

 the slip to the guillotine, and the entire symmetry of the 

 " form " had been destroyed. The great 1 4 feet broad 

 flippers had been lopped off by a few rapid slicing cuts of 

 the " krang-knives," and already natives from all parts of 

 the Fjord and district were collecting round the carcase 

 like vultures, and the lovely-looking brisket junks of beef 

 were being cut off, each piece about two feet square, and 

 were being piled up for distribution. One of the hands 

 was standing on the back cutting down with swinging 

 strokes of a broad-bladed and heavy axe, into the dark 

 purplish red beef, along the side of the vertebrae ; and 

 reaching at every stroke down to the " giant's ribs," as we 

 could clearly Jiear when the iron met the bone. 



Now came to view the womb untouched ; and in it, and 



1 I do not approve or accept the late unnecessarv and confusing change in its 

 name, vide True's "Whalebone Whales of the N. Atlantic," where he shifts 

 the synonym " rostratus " to Sibbald's whale. 



