148 THE OCEAN. 



fore, communicates with the air at the very top of 

 the head, which, by a peculiar rising or hump at that 

 part, is the yery highest part of the animal when 

 horizontal, so that it can breathe when none of its body 

 is exposed except the very orifice itself. The Whale 

 often begins to breathe when a little below the sur- 

 face, and then the force with which the air is expired 

 blows up the water lying above in a jet or stream, 

 which with the condensed moisture of the breath 

 itself constitutes what are called " the spoutings," 

 and which are attended with a rushing noise that may 

 be heard upwards of a mile. Some naturalists have 

 maintained that a stream of water is ejected from the 

 blow-hole in the form of an united column, mounting 

 high before it falls again in a shower. But from my 

 own observation on many individuals (seen in the 

 Atlantic), I incline to the former conclusion; as I 

 have invariably seen the ejected matter, instead of 

 forming a column, and falling in a shower, sail away 

 upon the breeze like a little white cloud. These 

 were, I suppose, Rorquals: but what is true of one 

 species, is probably true of all. There are one or 

 two other beautiful cuntrivances connected with the 

 structure of this air-passage, that are well worth no- 

 ticing. In the agony and terror caused by the blow 

 of the harpoon, the Whale usually plunges directly 

 downward into the depths of the sea, and that with 

 such force that the mouth has been found on return- 

 ing to the surface, covered with the mud of the bot- 

 tom ; while in some instances the jaws, and in others 

 the skull, have been fractured by the violence with 

 which they have struck the ground. A Whale has 



