94 3IARINE MAMMALS OF THE NORTH-WESTERN COAST. 
of gathering in troops, yet we have observed that it generally advances in lines of 
seldom more than two or three abreast, or more frequently in single file ; spouting 
irregularly, and showing little of its form above water. When undulating along in 
this manner, it often makes a noise at the moment of coming to the surface to 
respire, which may be likened to the faint lowing of an ox ; but the strain is not 
so prolonged. Sometimes these animals will gambol about vessels as porpoises do ; 
but at the slightest noise upon the water, or at the discharge of fire-arms, they 
instantly disappear. 
Through the kindness of Captain Arnold, we are able to add the measurements 
of a White Whale killed at the fishery on Tigel River, Eastern Siberia. The de- 
scription and proportions of the specimen alluded to are as follows : 
Ft. In. 
From tip of snout to notch of flukes 16 6 
From tip of snout to corner of mouth 1 
From tip of snout to eye 1 4 
From tip of snout to spout-hole 2 2 
From tip of snout to pectorals 3 8 
From eye to top of head 1 2 
From notch of flukes to vent 4 5 
From notch of flukes to genital slit '. 5 9 
Expansion of Hukes 3 10 
Breadth of flukes 1 11 
Thickness of flukes 3 
Round the body in largest place 9 10 
Length of pectorals 1 11 
Width of pectorals 1 3 
Thickness of blubber 4 
Sex, male ; color, white. Color of blubber, yellowish white ; yield of oil, one 
hundred gallons. 
At this place the animal ascends the river a distance of thirty miles, * where 
it is captured with the harpoon and lance as in ordinary whaling ; but in other 
estuaries which branch from the northern seas it is taken in nets, during the sea- 
son from June to September. Large numbers are captured by the natives of those 
coasts, and the oil obtained is to them a valuable article of commerce. In winter, 
the fat of the White Whale is considered a luxurious dish for the table, and the 
lean flesh supplies ample food for the sledge - clogs. 
* Dall gives an account of a beluga being the Yukon River, about seven hundred miles 
taken by the Russians, in 1863, at Nulato, on from the sea. 
