140 THE RAZOR-BACK. 



my inexperienced harpooners, who mistook it for a 

 mysticetus. It dived obliquely with such velocity, 

 that 480 fathoms of line were withdrawn from the 

 boat in about a minute of time. This whale was 

 also lost by the breaking of the line. 



The following observations on this animal have 

 been derived from different persons who have had 

 opportunities of examining it when dead. 



Length of a physalis found dead in Davis's 

 Strait 105 feet, greatest circumference about 38. 

 Head small, compared with that of the common 

 whale; fins long and narrow; tail about twelve feet 

 broad, finely formed; whalebone about four feet in 

 length, thick, bristly and narrow; blubber six or 

 eight inches thick, of indifferent quality; colour blu- 

 ish black on the back, and bluish gray on the belly; 

 skin smooth, excepting about the side of the thorax, 

 where longitudinal rugae or sulci occur. The phy- 

 salis occurs in great numbers in the Arctic seas, 

 especially along the edge of the ice, between Cherie 

 Island and Nova Zembla, and also near Jan Maven. 

 Persons trading to Archangel have often mistaken 

 it for the common whale. It is seldom seen among 

 much ice, and seems to be avoided by the mysti- 

 cetus; as such, the whale fishers view its appear- 

 ance with painful concern. It inhabits most gene- 

 rally in the Spitzbergen quarter, the parallels of 

 from 70 to 76 degrees, but in the months of June, 

 July, and August, when the sea is usually open, it 

 advances along the land to the northward as high 



