THE ORDER CETACEA. 95 



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separated from the ship, by appointing a rendezvous on 

 the shore, not far distant, and preparing against the loss 

 of much line, by dividing it at two hundred fathoms 

 from the harpoon, and affixing a buoy at the end of it. 

 Thus arranged, one of these creatures was shot, and 

 another struck. The former dived with such considerable 

 impetuosity, that the line was broken by the resistance 

 of the buoy as soon as it was thrown into the water ; and 

 the latter was liberated within a minute by the division 

 of the line, occasioned, as was supposed, by its friction 

 against the dorsal fin. Both of them escaped. Another 

 B. gibbar was, however, harpooned by one of Captain 

 Scoresby's inexperienced harpooners, who mistook it for 

 a B. mysticetus. It dived obliquely with such velocity 

 that four hundred and eighty fathoms of line were 

 withdrawn from the boat in about a minute of time. 

 In consequence of the line breaking, this whale was also 

 lost. 



The B. gibbar is found in great numbers in the Polar 

 Seas, particularly along the margin of those immense 

 fields of ice between Cherie Island and Nova Zembla; 

 likewise near the island of Jan Mayen. The Archangel 

 traders frequently mistake it for the balcena mysticetus. 

 It is rarely found amongst much ice, and appears to be 

 carefully aA T oided by the common whale ; accordingly, 

 when seen by the whalers, it is viewed with painful con- 

 cern. It inhabits chiefly the Spitzbergen quarter, the 

 parallels of seventy or seventy-six degrees ; but in the 

 month of June, July, and August, when the sea is 

 usually open, it advances along the land to the north- 

 ward as high as the eightieth degree of north latitude. 

 In open seasons, it is seen near the Headlands, at an 

 earlier period. A whale, probably of this species, mea- 

 suring a hundred and one feet in length, was stranded 



