THE WHITE WHALE I 73 



1898, In winter the ice prevents the beluga from 

 coming up to breathe, hence they congregate in great 

 numbers wherever there is an ice gap, hundreds 

 often crowding together in an Arctic black hole of 

 Calcutta, as happened near Christianshaab in Green- 

 land in April i860. The white whale has been 

 observed to come up to breathe every ten to twelve 

 minutes, only two or three seconds being consumed 

 in inspiration and expiration; a torrent of water is 

 not ejected from the blowhole as usually misrepre- 

 sented in natural history books. The accurate and 

 careful Scammon has figured a beluga in which the 

 warm vapour, condensing in the icy air, is seen 

 as a jet of steam above the spiracle. The front of 

 the back appears first, then the blowhole, as the 

 whale spouts ; the broad white flukes are exposed in 

 descending. 



Sociable and carnivorous (or rather piscivorous) 

 the beluga undertakes long migrations, probably in 

 pursuit of prey. These animals subsist on cod and 

 haddock in the open sea ; but also pursue bottom 

 fish, such as halibut and flounder, into shallows near 

 the shore. For this work the white whale is well 

 suited, being not only very fleet, but also provided 

 in its well-armed jaws with an efficient fish-trap, the 

 closely set teeth interlocking accurately so as to hold 

 the slippery victims. Indeed the beluga is as much 

 a beast of prey as a lion, though with a very 

 different exterior. It eagerly follows salmon for 



