PIN-BACKED WHALE. 113 



whalebone. The quantity of blubber sometimes amounts 

 to seventy or eighty butts. This is what we denominate 

 train-oil. The whalebone adheres to the upper jaw of 

 the animal, in the form of thin, parallel plates, fringed 

 at the edge. Its use consists, principally, in retaining 

 the small food in the mouth, which otherwise, from the 

 immense width and total want of teeth, would nearly all 

 escape. These plates of whalebone are sometimes more 

 than seven hundred in number ; and, in a large whale, the 

 longest of them are from eighteen to twenty feet in 

 length. 



The Great Whale has no back-fin, and the spiracles 

 or nostrils, on the fore part of the head, are much con- 

 torted. The mouth stretches backward almost as far as 

 the eyes ; and, when closed, the lips are somewhat in the 

 shape of an S. The tail is broad, and somewhat crescent- 

 shaped. The skin of this Whale is very smooth and dark, 

 though not of a uniform colour, but variously shaded, 

 according to age or circumstances. 



Fin-backed Whale. The last species is found only in 

 the Arctic Seas ; but the present not only occurs in the 

 same seas, but even as far south as the equator. From 

 the ferociousness of its disposition, and its yielding but 

 a small quantity of blubber, it is neglected by the whale- 

 fishers, who also have a notion, that wherever it appears 

 the other species are driven away. It feeds on several 

 small kinds of fish, particularly on herrings and mackerel ; 

 and spouts water from the double orifice on the top of its 

 head, with great force. The whalebone in these animals 

 is of a bluish colour. 



The Fin-backed Whale is of nearly the same length as 

 the great whale, but not more than about one-third of the 

 circumference. On the middle of the fore part of the head 



