THE HUMP-BACKED WHALE. 525 
oars high into the air. It is a very affectionate animal, holding firmly to its mate, and 
protecting its young with a fearlessness that is quite touching to any one except a whaler, 
who takes advantage of the poor creature’s natural affection to decoy the mother within 
reach of his harpoon. 
As far as is yet known, the Greenland Whale produces only a single eub at a birth. 
When first born, the young Whale is without the baleen, depending upon its mother for its 
subsistence like any other young mammal. The maternal Whale keeps close to her offspring 
until the baleen is grown, and does not forsake it until it is capable of supporting itself. 
The young Whales, before the baleen has developed itself, are technically termed “suckers,” 
and when the baleen is six feet in length, they are called by the name of “size.” 
The tongue of this Whale cannot be protruded from the mouth, as it is fixed throughout 
its entire length. It is very large, soft, and full of oil, so soft, indeed, that aman can make 
a depression deep enough to contain his closed fist by a tolerably strong pressure ; as I can 
testify by personal experience. The bones are porous and are very full of oil, the jawbones 
being so heavily charged with this valuable substance that they are removed from the 
animal, and so fastened in the rigging as to permit the oil to drain from them. 
When the Greenland Whale is undisturbed, it generally remains at the surface of 
the water for ten minutes, and “spouts” eight or nine times. It then descends for a short 
time, from five to twenty minutes, and returns again to the surface for the purpose of 
respiration. But when harpooned, it dives to a very great depth, and does not return to 
the surface until half an hour has elapsed. By noticing the direction of the line which is 
attached to the harpoon, the whalers judge of the spot in which the creature will rise, and 
generally contrive to be so near their victim when it emerges that they can fix another 
harpoon, or strike it with a lance before it can again descend into the depths of the 
ocean. 
Several species of the genus Balena are found inhabiting the different oceans of our 
globe, such as the Western Australian Whale, the Cape Whale, the Japan Whale, the New 
Zealand Whale, the Scrag Whale, and others, of which the best known is the Cape Whale, 
or Southern Whale, as it is sometimes called. 
This animal attains a considerable size, reaching the length of seventy feet when 
full grown, the length of its head being sixteen feet. It inhabits the Southern Ocean, and 
is often seen in the bays that adjoin the Cape of Good Hope in the months of June, July, 
and August, as the female is in the habit of frequenting these localities during the infancy 
of her young. The males are very seldom seen near their mates, so that out of sixty Cape 
Whales that were killed in False Bay only one was a male. The colour of this animal is 
a uniform black. 
SEVERAL species of the HUMP-BACKED, or BUNCHED, WHALES are now known, although 
there is very great difficulty in deciding upon the distinctions that are needful for the 
founding of a species, in animals which are necessarily so far beyond our reach except on 
rare and limited occasions. 
In all these animals the head is rather broad and flattened, and the throat and chest 
are marked with deep longitudinal folds or “reeves,” as they are termed by Dudley in his 
account of the Bunch Whale. These folds are perceptible even on the sides, and extend as 
far as the fins. The hump or bunch is of no very great size, being only a foot or so in 
height, and hardly larger than a man’s head. These animals may easily be distinguished 
from those of the succeeding genus by their shorter and more stout forms, the warty lip, 
and the large and rounded nose. The skull is about one-fourth of the entire leneth of 
the animal. 
The species which is figured in the accompanying illustration is that of JoHNnsron’s 
HuUMp-BACKED WHALE, a species which frequently attains very considerable dimensions, 
measuring from sixty to seventy feet in length. In spite, however, of its great size, it is 
not sought after by the whalers, and even if it should accidentally come across the course 
is seldom disturbed by them. Its oil, however, is said to be superior to that which 
is furnished by the Greenland Whale, and not much inferior to the oil of the Sperm 
Whale. 
