452 ACCOUNT OF THE ARCTIC KEGIONS. 



believe, exceeded 60 feet in length ; and the largest 

 I ever measured, was 58 feet from one extremity to 

 the other, being one of the longest, to appearance, 

 which I ever saw. An uncommon whale that was 

 caught near Spitzbergen, about 20 years ago, the 

 whalebone of which measured almost 15 feet, was 

 not, I understand, so much as 70 feet in length ; 

 and the longest actual measurement that I have 

 met with, or heard of, is given by Sir Charles 

 Giesecke, who informs us,, that, in the spring of 

 1813, a whale was killed at Godhavn, of the length 

 of 67 feet. These, however, are very uncommon 

 instances. I therefore conceive, that 60 feet may 

 be considered as the size of the larger animals of 

 this species, and 65 feet in length as a magnitude 

 which very rarely occurs. 



Yet I believe that whales now occur of as large 

 dimensions, as at any former period since the com- 

 mencement of the whale-fishery. This point I en- 

 deavoured to prove, from various historical records, 

 in a paper read before the Wernerian Society, on 

 the 19th of December 1818, and since inserted in 

 the " Eclinburgh Philosophical Journal," No. I. 

 p. 83. 



In this paper, I brought forward the authorities 

 of Zorgdrager, the writer of an account of the whale- 

 fishery, and one of the early superintendants of the 

 Dutch northern fisheries, together with opinions or 

 remarks of Captains Anderson, Gray, Heley, and 



