ZOOLOGY. — M,YSTICETUS. 477 



the Indians and Esquimaux of arctic countries, 

 I' and with some nations are essential to their comfort. 

 Some membranes of the abdomen are used for an 

 upper article of clothing, and the peritoneum in 

 particular, being thin and transparent, is \ised in- 

 stead of glass in the windows of their huts ; the 

 bones are converted into harpoons and spears, for 

 striking the seal, or darting at the sea-birds, and 

 are also employed in the erection of their tents, 

 and with some tribes in the formation of their 

 boats ; the sinews are divided into filaments, and 

 used as thread, with which they join the seams of 

 their boats and tent-cloths, and sew with great 

 taste and nicety the different articles of dress they 

 manufacture ; and the whalebone and other supe- 

 rior products, so valuable in European markets, have 

 also their uses among them. 



I shall conclude this account of the mysticetus, 

 with a sketch of some of the characters which be- 

 long generally to cetaceous animals. 



Whales are viviparous ; they have but one young 

 at a time, and suckle it with teats. They are fur- 

 nished with lungs, and are under the necessity of 

 approaching the surface of the water at intervals to 

 respire in the air. The heart has two ventricles 

 and two auricles. The blood is warmer than in the 

 human species ; in a narwal that had been an hour 

 and a half dead, the temperature of the blood was 97°; 

 and in a mysticetus recently killed, 102°. All of 



