730 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxviii. 



GREENLAND WHALE-ARCTIC RIGHT WHALE. 



BaUi'ua in ij at lectins Linnama. 



It was probably an individual of this large and widely distributed 

 species which Sir Alexander Maci-cenzic^ observed when he discovered 

 the jii-reat Mackenzie Kiver in 1789. On that occasion he landed on an 

 island at its nioutli, which he named '"Whale Island." Although old 

 and recent traces of them were many, yet he did not meet with any 

 Eskimos. The Eskimos who frecjuented Eort Anderson succeeded 

 most seasons in killing one large whale, but s(>ldom as many as 

 two. Plenty reigned for many months as a result. Quite a large 

 number of hunters were necessary for the successful pursuit of a 

 whale. The implements formerly used were an ivory barb, with an 

 iron or tiint point, attached to a strong walrus line having an inflated 

 bladder at the other end. A long haft of wood was used to propel the 

 ])arb, which detached itself when the object was hit. This course was 

 followed until as ujany as a dozen or UKjre floats w^ei'c dragged by the 

 whale; he soon became exhausted by the persistent attack of his ene- 

 mies, and when that happened they approached and by repeated thrusts 

 lanced him to death. The fresh l)lubl)er resem])les pork in color and 

 taste. Our servants preferi-ed to eat it raw with their dry venison. 

 When fried, it was very rich and oily. Needless to state that the Eski- 

 mos of the arctic I'egion are exceedingly fond of fat and oil, and that 

 during the long winter season they consume far more of these neces- 

 sary and cold-protecting foods than any other race on earth. On June 

 25, 1S()2, the tenth anniversary of his departure frou) Stornoway, Lewis, 

 Scotland, the writer had his tirst near view of the ice-covered polar 

 sea and of the ))ay named l)v Sir flohn Richardson, in 1826, after P]ng- 

 land's celebrated but hapless explorer. Admiral Sir John Franklin." 

 We then and there distinctly heard one or two large whales spouting 

 at a great rate in a narrow lane of water, which was clearly visible at 

 some distance amid the immense held of unbroken ice. In the end of 

 June, 1864, he had a similar experience in the same quarter. Since 

 the advent of American whalers, however, into these nai'row seas, 

 about twenty years ago, whales are now said to be rapidly diminishing 

 in numbers to the westward of the Mackenzie, and this Avill soon be 

 the case in the narrow seas of the land-locked portions of the Canadian 

 polar ocean. In several suitable spots on the south shores of Franklin 

 Bay and Ijangton Harbor we saw some ribs, crown, and other large 

 bones of the whale, and certain other remains, including a human 

 skull, ancient Eskimo huts or winter houses, ^^'ith the exception of 

 two families, with one large l)oat, or imiiak, and three kayaks, or 



«He had previously — in June, 1857 — obtained a distant view, and but for a pre- 

 vailing blizzard would have had an equally close view of Liverpool Bay in Januarj', 

 1859. 



