134 GREAT NORTHERN RORQUAL. 



time. This whale was also lost by the breaking of 

 the line." 



Sometimes, though rarely it would appear, this 

 species manifests a tendency to retaliate against 

 its pursuers, and especially when those endeared 

 to it are attacked. We speak not merely of the 

 affection of the mother for its young; the fol- 

 lowing narrative occurs in Lacepede, and seems 

 to exhibit no common share of conjugal regard 

 " The male and female of this species (the jubarte)," 

 he remarks, " seem united by the strongest bands of 

 affection. Duhamel reports that two were taken in 

 1723, which were swimming along together, and 

 were probably male and female. The one which 

 remained free exhibited much uneasiness on its com- 

 panion being wounded ; it then swam to the boat, 

 and with one stroke of its tail killed three men and 

 precipitated them into the sea. The two remained 

 to the last in close company with each other ; and 

 when the one was killed, the other uttered lamentable 

 and terrible cries/' 



But though the regular whalers usually decline 

 all encounter with this species, yet it is not so with 

 the natives of the polar regions, whose wants compel 

 them to make every exertion which promises the 

 least success, and whose circumstances are frequently 

 peculiarly favourable. In Lapland they sometimes 

 yield fifteen tons of oil, and are worth about .150. 

 (Brookes Laplaml, 141.) We have met with 

 two accounts of their mode of attacking it. Thus 

 the late Sir Charles Giesecki states that the following 



