146 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



fin. This species, it is to be remembered, is among the 

 rarest of the cetacea. The flesh and oil are considered 

 as very aperient to those who partake of this delicacy. 

 It inhabits the main ocean ; it seldom approaches to- 

 wards the shore, and feeds chiefly upon the loligo or 

 calamy. It has a spiracle, and thus resembles the other 

 species of the cetacea. Both the flesh and oil are used 

 by the natives of Greenland and Davis's Straits as food, 

 but not without great apprehension of the qualities I 

 have just mentioned. It is generally discovered dead, 

 being but seldom captured alive. 



The above is the description given by Fabricius,* 

 which is the only account I have been able to find, but 

 I have not been successful in procuring any accurate 

 representation of this animal. 



* Otho Fabricius, " Fauna Grbenlandica," p. 31. 



AN ICEBERG IN LATITUDE 77° 42' N. 



