4 WHALEBONE : ITS PRODUCTION AND UTILIZATION. 



ish, slender, and flexible. They are also parallel and quite even, so 

 that the slab may be split its entire length to any required degree of 

 thinness. On its removal from the mouth and before it is dried the 

 material is so elastic and flexible that it is almost unbreakable, but 

 when dry it is somewhat brittle. 



The Pacific or Northwest right whale yields baleen nearly as long 

 as that of the Arctic or bowhead whale, but heavier, coarser, and 

 more brittle. The edge of the slabs is more nearly straight than in 

 the Arctic species, and the hairy fringe along the edges is much 

 thicker and coarser — indeed, it is quite bristly toward the apex. 

 The South Sea whalebone is shorter and less curved on its outer 

 edge than even that of the Pacific or Northwest right whale, and 

 has fibers rather coarser than the Arctic but finer than the Northwest 

 whalebone. Little of this is now brought in. 



The baleen of the finback whale is very short, rarely exceeding 

 4 feet in length; it is 10 or 12 inches broad at the base, rapidly 

 running to a point and becoming triangular in shape. The slabs are 

 somewhat rigid crosswise and the fringe is from 2 to 4 inches long. 

 The fibers are much coarser than those in baleen of the right whales, 

 and this variety is consequently in much less demand, the selling 

 price during recent years rarely equaling one-tenth that of the bow- 

 head whalebone. The average yield of the finback whales taken 

 by the United States fleet is about 250 pounds to each animal. The 

 baleen from the humpback whale is even shorter and of poorer 

 quality than that from the finback; its low value and the small 

 quantit}^ that may be obtained from an individual do not warrant 

 the trouble of saving it. 



EXTRACTING AND CLEANING THE BALEEN. 



The baleen is not firmly secured to the jaw of the whale dnd may be 

 readily detached. About 12 inches of it is embedded in the gum, 

 while the remainder hangs free. In its normal condition it appears 

 to be partly supported or propped up by the throat, tongue, and 

 lips, which, however, relax their hold after death and the material 

 is loosened by its own weight. "\Mien a dead whale is found it is 

 often the case that the baleen has already started from the jaw, and 

 this is likewise true at times when a whale remains a day or so 

 alongside the ship before cutting-in. Under these circumstances it 

 is sometimes necessary to lash the baleen to the jaw while in the act 

 of hoisting on board. 



In extracting the baleen the fishermen hoist the upper jaw on 

 board with the layer of bone attached and separate them on deck. 

 Cutting spades are pushed along the groove between the gum and 

 jaw bone, and in most cases the entire mass is suspended in the cut- 

 ting tackle so that the weight of the whalebone assists in detaching 

 it from the jaws. In this manner it is started on either side and sev- 



