90 THE COMMON WHALE. 



concern for her young, seemed regardless of the 

 danger which surrounded her. At length one of 

 the boats approached so near that a harpoon was 

 hove at her; it hit, hut did not attach itself. A 

 second harpoon was struck, hut this also failed to 

 penetrate ; hut a third was more effectual and held. 

 $till she did not attempt to escape, hut allowed 

 other boats to approach ; so that in a few minutes 

 three more harpoons were fastened, and in the 

 course of an hour afterwards she was killed. There 

 is something, continues this interesting writer, ex- 

 tremely painful in the destruction of a whale, when 

 thus evincing a degree of affectionate regard for its 

 offspring, which would do honour to the superior 

 intelligence of human beings ; yet the object of the 

 adventure, the value of the prize, the joy of the 

 capture, cannot be sacrificed to feelings of com- 

 passion. 



The mysticetus, though often found in great 

 numbers together, can scarcely be said to be grega- 

 rious; for they are found most generally solitary, 

 or in pairs, excepting when they are drawn to the 

 same spot by the attraction of an abundance of 

 palatable food, or of a choice situation among the 

 icebergs. 



The habitat of this valuable species (as we shall 

 presently see of others) is a point of the highest 

 economic importance, and more especially now, when 

 it has been chased from its older haunts into nearly 

 the impenetrable and certainly the most hazardous 

 recesses of the Polar Seas. In the Athena3um of 



