THE WHALE. 129 



The sexual intercourse of whales, is often ob- 

 served about the latter end of summer; and females, 

 with cubs or suckers along with them, being most 

 commonly met with in the spring of the year, the 

 time of their bringing forth, it is presumed, is in 

 February or March; and their period of gestation 

 about hine or ten months. In the latter end of 

 April, 1811, a sucker was taken by a Hull whaler, 

 to which the funis umbilicalis was still attached. 

 The whale has one young at a birth. Instances of 

 two being seen with a female are very rare. The 

 young one, at the time of parturition, is said to be 

 at least ten, if not fourteen feet in length, It goes un- 

 der the protection of its mother for probably a year, 

 or more; or until, by the evolution of the whalebone, 

 it is enabled to procure its own nourishment. Sup- 

 posing the criterion before mentioned, of the notches 

 in the whalebone being indicative of the number of 

 years growth, to be correct, then it would appear 

 that the whale reaches the magnitude called size, 

 that is, with a six feet length of whalebone, in 

 twelve years, and attains its full growth at the age 

 of twenty or twenty-five. Whales, doubtless, live 

 to a great age. The marks of age are, increase in 

 the quantity of gray colour in the skin, and a 

 change to a yellowish tinge of the white parts about 

 the head; a decrease in the quantity of oil yielded 

 by a certain weight of blubber; an increase of hard- 

 ness in the blubber, and in the thickness and strength 

 Vol. III. 17 



