128 ARCTIC ZOOLOGY. 



average thickness, twelve inches ; in the very young whale, 

 being gelatinous ; in the more advanced and vigorous, 

 of a florid red, when it is considered most valuable ; and 

 in the aged animal, yellow and tough from the induration 

 of increased and condensed fibre : for which reason the 

 older whales are not so much an object, where choice 

 presents, as those of less advanced growth. 



The older ones are also more dangerous and difficult to 

 take, both from the rigidity of their frame, and their 

 experience of injury. It is not unusual when they happen 

 to be disturbed in the pursuits that draw them from their 

 retreats, that, if a partner be wounded, the aftectionate 

 companion comes to give relief, not knowing the cause of 

 the pain, or of the sudden flight. In the search, the Avatch- 

 ful hunter strikes the fresh prey, when the tortured animals, 

 seeking each other in their anguish, and desperate with 

 their wounds, often run foul of the boats, and involve their 

 pursuers in the ruin that overwhelms themselves. In some 

 instances, as heretofore observed, they, by running among 

 packed ice, or rubbing the line against the edge of a flaw 

 (a portion of field ice), frequently chafe it so as to make 

 it snap, and so escape for the moment, but they are seldom 

 eventually safe.* On such occasions they cease not to 

 run for unknown length, until fatigue or death makes them 



* " Haeret lateri lethalis arundo.'' 



