268 WHALEBONE AS FREIGHT. 



flukes resembled mucli those of the right whale. It 

 has on its ridge a very small fin or hump, which 

 serves to distinguish it from the fin-hack ; its jaws 

 are furnished with black bone, but so short as to 

 render it of little value as an article of commerce. 

 In color its body is of a light grey, and is much 

 longer, in proportion to its bulk, than any other fish 

 I have seen. The blubber was about four inches 

 thick, corrugated and arranged on the belly in great 

 folds or rolls; it was literally covered by wounds 

 made by the remora or sucking-fish. The whole 

 length was eighty feet, and its yield fifty barrels — 

 the oil commanding the same price as that of the 

 right whale. 



It is seldom this variety of the whale is disturbed 

 by the whaleman, its extreme shyness rendering it 

 almost an impossibility to strike it. In this instance 

 it was shot from the ship by a bomb-lance, which, by 

 a great chance, caused a fatal wound, disabling the 

 fish so that he was an easy capture. 



The high price of whalebone at home renders the 

 ships on this ground, which have a large supply of it, 

 anxious to get theirs to market ere there is a depres- 

 sion in price, and we being the only ship anticipating 

 a speedy return, we are continually having it offered 

 to us as freight. Amongst these ships is the Richard 

 Mitchell, which narrowly escaped being driven ashore 

 at Bunbury a few weeks ago. She had landed her 

 captain to bargain for provisions, whilst the vessel 

 was standing off and on, when a heavy southerly 

 gale sprang up and stripped her of every inch of 

 canvas. By great exertions they bent new sails, but 

 it was not until after seventy-two hours beating that 



