524 FOOD OF THE GREENLAND WHALE. 
position im the accompanying illustration, which is taken from a photographic portrait of 
the skeleton in the ereat Museum of Comparative Anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes. 
The Whalebone, or baleen, is found in a series of plates, thick and solid at the insertion 
into the jaw, and splitting at the extremity into a multitude of hair-like fringes. On each 
side of the jaw there are more than three hundred of these plates, which in a fine specimen 
are about ten or twelve feet long, and eleven inches wide at their base. The weight of 
baleen which is furnished by a large Whale is about one ton. This substance does not 
take its origin directly from the gum, but from a peculiar vascular formation which rests 
upon it. These masses of baleen are placed along the sides of the mouth for the purpose 
of aiding the Whale in procuring its food and separating it from the water. 
The mode of feeding which is adopted by the Whale is as follows. The animal 
frequents those parts of the ocean which are the best suppled with the various creatures on 
which it feeds, and which are all of very small size, as is needful from the size of its gullet, 
which is not quite two inches in diameter. Small shrimps, crabs and lobsters, together 
with various molluses and medusve, form the diet on which the vast bulk of the Greenland 
Whale is sustained. Driving with open mouth through the congregated shoals of these 
little creatures, the Whale engulphs them by millions in its enormous jaws, and continues 
its destructive course until it has sufficiently charged its mouth with prey. Closing its 
jaws and driving out through the interstices of the Whalebone the water which it has 
taken together with its prey, it retains the captured animals which are entangled in the 
Whalebone, and swallows them at its ease. The multitude of these little creatures that 
must hourly perish is so enormous, that the prolific powers of nature would seem 
inadequate to keep up a supply of food for the herds of Whales that mhabit the Northern 
Seas. Yet the supply is more than equal to the demand, for the sea is absolutely reddened 
for miles by the countless millions of living beings that swarm in its waters. 
The Whale is an animal of very great ‘value to civilized and to savage men. The oil 
which is procured in great aves from its blubber and other portions of its structure 
is almost invaluable to us, while the bones and baleen find their use in every civilized 
land. To the natives of the polar regions, however, the Whale is of still greater value, as 
they procure many necessaries of life from various parts of its body, eat the flesh, and 
cae the oil. Repulsive as such a diet may appear to us who live in a comparatively 
warm region, it 1s an absolute necessity in these ice-bound lands, such oleaginous diet 
being needful in order to keep up the heat of the body by a bountiful supply of carbon. 
Civilized beings, even though they may be living for the time in these northern regions, 
find themselves almost unable to; join in the greasy “banquet which so entirely delights the 
native palate. There are, however, some portions of the Whale which can be eaten without 
difficulty, and are rather palatable than otherwise. The skin of the Whale, when properly 
dressed, is of ebony blackness, and not at all attractive to the eye. But its flavour is quite 
agreeable, and is said to bear some resemblance to that of the cocoa-nut. When prepared 
for the table it is cut into little cubes lke black dice. But the best part of the Whale is 
one that would hardly be expected to form an article of diet, namely the portion of the 
eums in which the roots of the baleen are still imbedded. The Tuskis call this substance 
their sugar, though its flavour is very like that of cream-cheese. One traveller who had 
been obliged, through motives of politeness, to take part in a native banquet, and who had 
been more than disgusted by the very remarkable dishes which were brought to table, 
became quite enthusiastic on the merits of Whale’s skin and gum, acknowledging himself 
to be agreeably surprised by the former, and calling the latter article of diet, “perfectly 
delicious.” 
The chase of the Whale, its dangers and its excitement, are too well known to need 
descriptionsin these pages, and only as far as they form part of the animal’s history will 
they be noticed. 
In its character the Greenland Whale is inoffensive and timorous, and except when 
roused by the pain of a wound or by the sight of its offspring in danger, will always flee 
the presence of man. Sometimes, however, it turns fiercely upon the boat from which the 
fatal weapon has been launched, and with a single blow of its enormous tail—its only 
weapon—has been known to shatter a stout boat to fragments, driving men, ropes, and 
