Whales as the Whalers Knew Them 161 



Others still were the life scenes portrayed by 

 the men who hunted whales wherever whales 

 were to be found. In any story of American 

 whaling all of these pictures seem to be of interest; 

 but if it were necessary to make a choice among 

 them, one would naturally select first of all 

 those made by men who received their impres- 

 sions while afloat, gunwale to fluke, beside the 

 monsters to be described. When a man who 

 has worked his way from the berth of an ap- 

 prentice to that of chief mate of a whale ship, 

 as Chase had, tells what he has seen of whales, 

 his words are worth attention. 



Nevertheless, it seems best to begin here with 

 what might be called the scientist's point of view. 

 As the reader learned long ago, the whales are 

 not fish, but mammals, animals that suckle 

 their young. Unlike the fish, they have warm 

 blood and lungs, and must come to the surface 

 of the water to inhale fresh air at intervals under 

 penalty of death by drowning. The fins, one on 

 each side near the body, which help to make 

 the whale look like a fish, have bones within 

 that are not very different in location and number 



