WHALES. 413 
greatest. It has no hair or scales, but is covered with a smooth 
black leather, hard and thick, under which there is a cushion of fat 
one foot thick. There are, however, some hairs on the skin of this 
giant of the ocean, particularly when young. The head is so 
THE GREENLAND WHALE, 
(Balena mysticetus.) 
enormous as to form one-third of the total weight of the animal; 
it is in the form of an arch. This truly colossal head, when seen 
at a distance rising above the surface of the sea, resembles a dark 
brown hillock. 
The mouth is prodigious; so huge is it that two men were able 
