THE RORQUAL. 363 



As befits its slender figure, the Rorqual is a swift and active animal, 

 and when going at full speed, can pass a steamship. Its course is right 

 ahead, and it rises on an average every ninety seconds to breathe. Less 

 timid than other members of the family, it often appears near sailing 

 ships, swimming round them or following them for hours ; it displays 

 extraordinary courage, and when provoked is the most mischievous of 

 all whales : it possesses social instincts, and in case of danger seeks with 

 all its power to defend its fellows. 



It requires more nourishing food than the Right Whale, and has a 

 much larger gullet. In the stomach of a single Rorqual six hundred 

 codfish have been found, as well as a quantity of pilchards. It is in pur- 

 suit of the shoals of these fishes that the Rorqual proceeds southward, 

 hovering around the fishing-ground and swallowing whole boat-loads of 

 herrings and pilchards. It eats also immense quantities of sea-weed, 

 and is said by observant fishermen to leave a neighborhood when the 

 sea-weed is all consumed. 



The Rorqual being almost valueless for commercial purposes, is 

 seldom attacked by whale-fishers, and it is so active and fearless that the 

 aggressors have often to repent their temerity. On one such occasion 

 the Rorqual when harpooned started off in a direct line, and at such a 

 rate that the men in the boat lost their presence of mind, and forgot to 

 cut the rope. The whale made straight for a neighboring ice-field, shot 

 beneath it, and dragged the boat and its crew beneath the ice. Scoresby 

 endeavored to secure some Rorquals by using short lines with a buoy at 

 the end, hoping the resistance offered by the buoy would tire out the 

 whale. Two Rorquals were struck ; the first dived with such speed and 

 force that the line snapped away from the buoy ; the second got loose by 

 the rope being cut by the dorsal fin. A third that was harpooned by 

 mistake, carried out three thousand feet of line in about a minute, and 

 escaped by snapping the rope. 



While neglected by the regular whalers, the Rorqual is eagerly 

 chased by the inhabitants of the coasts which it visits. The chase 

 is dangerous, not merely from the strength of the animal attacked, 

 but from the fact that the other whales in the vicinity come to 

 assist their comrade in his hour of need. 



The Laplanders, who find the bones and other portions of this animal 

 to be of great service to them, unite in its chase, and employ a very 

 simple mode of action. To harpoon such a being would be useless, so 



