176 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



be transformed into Inter belugas oixa. Captain 

 Holboll relates how in 1827 a school of killers pursued 

 some beluga into a bay near Godhaven in Green- 

 land, and not only devoured many, but completed 

 matters by massacring- the survivors in sheer blood- 

 thirstiness ! Such frightful rapacity reminds one of 

 the savage instincts of the Cape hunting-dog; the 

 orca, however, seems yet more blindly ferocious than 

 the wild hound, since Mr. R. Brown has recorded 

 that on one occasion a white herring- boat was 

 attacked by some killers, who apparently mistook it 

 for a white whale. 



The beluga has another and yet more formidable 

 enemy — man ; for this whale is encased in a valuable 

 coat of yellowish-white blubber four inches thick, 

 and yielding about one hundred gallons of oil. 

 Although the supply furnished by each animal is but 

 limited, the great number of individuals which can 

 be simultaneously taken amply makes up for this ; 

 besides, the oil is of excellent quality, while the skin 

 is tanned into a strong supple leather sold under the 

 name of " porpoise hide " for the manufacture of 

 bootlaces. In Greenland the white whale is hunted 

 by Eskimo and Danes; any large schools presenting 

 themselves at the ice holes " receive prompt atten- 

 tion." The natives of Alaska shoot them, tying the 

 bodies to the ice, as it is said that if not thus secured 

 they sink (like a hippopotamus under similar condi- 

 tions) and are lost. Beluga entering the fiords of 



