CHAPTER V. 
THE BOWHEAD, OR GREAT POLAR WHALE. 
Bal^na mysticetus, Linn, (Plate xi.) 
The Bowhead, or Great Polar Whale, is by far the most valuable, in a commer- 
cial point of view, of all the JSnkenidce, and is the chief object of pursuit by the 
whalemen in the northern seas. From its great yield of oil, which in some individ- 
uals has exceeded two hundred and seventy -five barrels, with a production of bone 
or baleen equal to over three thousand five hundred pounds,* one might suppose 
it to be the largest of all the Cetaceans. Such, however, is not the fact, for it 
seldom attains the length of sixty -five feet, and it is a stout whale which measures 
fifty feet between its extremities. The striking feature of the animal is its ponder- 
ous head, forming, as far as our observations go, more than one -third of the whole 
creature, which is short, bulky, and bloated in its appearance. Its upper jaw, or 
the top of the head, is curved downward more than that of the Right "Whale 
(Balcena Sieboldii?), to which it bears the nearest resemblance. To the edge of this 
jaw, the long, finely fringed, transverse layers of baleen are attached, projecting 
downward and outward, and hedging in, as it were, the animal's tongue, and all is 
inclosed by the under lip when the mouth is shut. The tongue is incapable of 
protrusion, being fixed from near its point to the root. It is a mass of spongy fat, 
intermixed with sinewy flesh, and yields one -tenth as much oil as the "body -blub- 
ber." The two extended rows of baleen which line the sides of the upper jaw 
provide the means by which the animal secures its insect food, which is the chief 
sustenance of the colossal mysticetus. Its eyes, which in size quadruple those of 
an ox, are placed, one on each side, about a foot above and behind the angle of 
the mouth. The spiracles are at the apex of the high protuberance on the head, 
which is forward of the eyes. Its short but heavy pectorals are placed about two 
feet from the eyes and nearly in a horizontal line with them. Its ears are a little 
above and behind the eyes ; they are simply openings, not over one -fourth of an 
* Vide Roys' first voyage in the Arctic. 
[Ml 
