THE WHALE. 107 



blade included,) and resemble a frame of saws in 

 a saw-mill, the interior edges are covered with a 

 fringe of hair, and the exterior edges of every blade, 

 excepting a few at each extremity of the series, is 

 curved and flattened down, so as to present a smooth 

 surface to the lips. In some whales a curious hol- 

 low on one side, and ridge on the other, occurs in 

 many of the central blades of whalebone, at regular 

 intervals of six or seven inches. May not this 

 irregularity, like the rings in the horn of the ox, 

 which they resemble, afford an intimation of the age 

 of the whale? if so, twice the number of runnins: 

 feet in the longest lamina of whalebone, in the head 

 of a whale not full grown, would represent its age 

 in years. In the youngest whales, called suckers, 

 the whalebone is only a few inches long; when the 

 length reaches six feet or upwards, the whale is said 

 to be size. The colour of the whalebone is brown- 

 ish black, or bluish black. In some animals it is 

 striped longitudinally with white. When newly 

 cleaned, the surface exhibits a fine play of colour. 

 A large whale sometimes affords a ton and a half 

 of whalebone. If the " sample blade," that is, 

 the largest lamina in the series, weigh seven pounds, 

 the whole produce may be estimated at a ton; and 

 so on in proportion. The whalebone is inserted 

 into the crown bone, in a sort of rabbit. All the 

 blades in the same series are connected together by 

 the gum, in which the thick ends are inserted. This 

 substance (the gums) is white, fibrous, tender, and 



