ARCTIC ZOOLOGY. 131 



less the object of pursuit. Besides, the hunters from ex- 

 perience avoid striking the tinner, well knowing his 

 enormous strength and fleetness ; always when wounded, 

 running forwards with such velocity as to distance his pur- 

 suers in a few minutes, and frequently snapping the 

 lines ; or, should the harpooner hold fast, himself and 

 the boat's crew would soon be out of reach of all reason- 

 able assistance. Hence these animals are very seldom 

 captured. 



The tinner is gregarious, being usually in herds of from 

 tive to a dozen ; and they are, at any distance, easily dis- 

 tinguishable from the blubber whale by the strength, eleva- 

 tion, and whiteness of the watery column discharged from 

 the blow-holes. The blast of the blubber whale is short, 

 full, and brownish, driven somewhat forward ; whilst that 

 of the finner is forced directly upwards in a firm column 

 of more than ten feet, and with such an accompanying 

 gust as may be heard in a calm evening at the distance of 

 more than half a mile. The attention of the sailors is 

 drawn to the path of the finner by the noise of this 

 discharge ; and should the animal be then beneath the 

 surface, and his course be marked by the eddying ripple 

 caused by his motion like that of the blubber whale, on 

 ascertaining the finner's blast, the preparations for pursuit 

 are instantly suspended. 



With regard to the bala^na boops, or pike-headed 



