34 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 



Ft. In. 



Length of pectorals 8 



Breadth " 4 



Distance from nib end to spoutholes 16 



Length of spoutholes 1 



Distance from corner of mouth to nib end IG 



Breadth of flukes 19 



Thickness of blubber 16 



Average thickness of blubber 11 



Thickness of black skin on back 1 



Length of genital slit 1 10 



Dist. from " " to arms 4 



" " " " to flukes ■ 9 



Length of longest bone or baleen 10 6 



" of fringe or hair on bone 2* 



Breadth of widest bone ,.....^. 13 



Bone is embedded in the gum of the jaw ten inches. 



Weight of largest slab of bone, seven pounds. 



Number of layers of bone on each side of jaw, 330.f 



Bone extends back of spoutholes in throat, three feet ; falls short of nib end 

 one foot. 



Number of teats, two. - 



The tongue is very fat, yielding one-tenth as much oil as the whole of the 

 " body blubber." 



All Bowheads found on this cruising ground are quite free from parasitic 

 crustaceans, as well as barnacles. 



Whalers bound to the Arctic are generally at the "edge of the ice," which 

 is met with, near lat. 60°, about the 1st of May. They then work their way 

 north svard as fast as the ice will permit, keeping as near shore as practicable 

 in order to be on the best " whale-ground," and also to avoid the ice. Many 

 whales were formerly taken off Karaginski Island, lat. 59°, on the coast of 

 Kamsc.hatka. 



Behring Strait is sufficiently clear of ice from the 1st to the 20th of July for 

 ships to navigate with comparative safety. A large fleet collect, and grope 

 their way through ice and fog into the Arctic (as termed), and frequently reach 

 the high latitude of 72° N. Occasionally an open season occurs, when they 

 hazard their ships around Point Barrow. Capt. Roys entered the ocean the 

 middle of July, and left the 28th of August, but at the present time ships re- 

 main till October. 



The principal herding places of the Bowheads in the Okhotsk are at the extremi- 

 ties of this great sheet of water, the most northern being the North-East Gulf 

 (Gulf of Ghijghi), the most southern, Tchantar Bay. The whales do not make 

 their appearance in North-East Gulf so soon as in the bay. Whalers endeavor 

 as soon as possible to get to the head of Tchantar Bay, where they are sure to 

 find the objects of pursuit in the intermediate water between the ic»and shore, 

 long before the main body of the congealed mass is broken upt'and before 

 the shi])S can get between the ice and the shore, even at high .titjf, the boats 

 being sent forward weeks previous to the ships. Soon after tlje ship's arrival 

 the whales avoid their pursuers by going under the main body of ice 

 situated in the middle of the bay, finding breathing holes among the conglom- 

 erate floe. The boats cruise about the edge of this barrier watching for them 

 to emerge from their cover, which occasionally they do, and are given chase 

 to instantly. Frequently, in sailing along this field of ice, you hear distinctly 

 the sound of whales blowing among it, when no water is visible at the point 

 from whence the sound comes. The first of the season, before the ice breaks 



* Two feet may be regarded as nearly twice the usual length. 



f ,'no may be a fair average, and 370 is the highest number we have counted. 



[April, 



