136 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



the longest cow 46 feet. The average size works out 18 bulls, 

 average 39.9 feet; 16 cows, average 40 feet. 



The value of the whalebone of this species has greatly increased, 

 I am told, being now worth ^300 a ton. From the small size of 

 these whales the oil obtained is not worth as much as the yield 

 from the larger Balrenopterae, but the value of the whalebone 

 probably makes up for this. This is not fully recognised by the 

 whalers, who sometimes refuse to fire at the Seihval (the Norwegian 

 name for this species) in case they disturb Finners. The baleen of 

 these whales is naturally smaller than the Finners. A blade before 

 me measures 25 inches by 8 inches. It is black with a fringe of 

 white hairs. The length, including the hair, is 29 inches. At the 

 smaller end there is one line of white. 



One of the Seihvalen killed at the Olna station in 1905 had 

 curious baleen. Instead of being black it is marked longitudinally, 

 for half the breadth, with pale yellow-grey bands. The manager 

 told me he had never seen anything resembling it before. The 

 hair fringing the baleen of this species is exceedingly fine and 

 soft. 



MEGAPTERA LONGIMANA. 



I have only the measurements of six Humpbacks killed in 

 Scottish waters. Five at Olna and one at Buneveneader. Four bulls 

 averaged 36.2 feet, 2 cows averaged 40 feet. They are compact 

 whales, heavy for their length, and in shape more resembling the 

 Right whale. They are very fierce, and dangerous when wounded, 

 using their long flippers with great effect as a weapon of offence. 

 The Norwegians will not venture off in a boat to spear them when 

 harpooned, saying they are "fighting whales." I have been told of 

 three men who went in a boat to lance a harpooned one. When 

 the boat got near it brought its huge flipper down on the boat, 

 cutting it in two, and killing two men. The third drifted off on the 

 stern of the boat and was saved. 



WHALE PRODUCTS. 



When the blubber is taken off the whale to be boiled down into 

 oil, the baleen is cut out of the jaw. The carcase is then drawn 

 to the other side of the slip, where the flesh is cut off, with large 

 flensing knives, and carried by a chain of buckets to the first floor 

 of the boiling-house. Here it is emptied into huge vacuum pans 

 and boiled by steam for several hours. The boiled flesh is then 

 removed by the manhole. It resembles spent tan bark. It is now 

 wheeled to another series of buckets, which carry it up to the top 

 of the dessicator, a big cylinder of brick-work, with large iron trays 

 which revolve slowly, the meat dropping from one to another, the 



