48 The Mysticetus, or Right Whale 



century and a half ago, when hundreds of vessels 

 eagerly searched every nook of those otherwise lonely 

 northern seas, and populous wooden towns sprang up 

 where the blubber of the whale was boiled down, for 

 transshipment by vessels chartered for the purpose, 

 the Arctic regions are now deserted. Soon, very soon, 

 they will revert to their primitive condition before 

 whaling became an industry at all, and the great 

 Greenland Whale will peacefully roam his quiet 

 waters unmolested by any save his natural enemies. 



Closely akin to the Right Whale of Greenland is 

 the Southern Right Whale, or Balaena australis. 

 There are a few unimportant differences as regards 

 outline, the Southern Whale being somewhat slenderer, 

 slightly more 'clipper built,' as sailors say. Structur- 

 ally the two are almost identical, but as regards habitat 

 exceedingly different. Unlike his northern congener, 

 the Southern Right Whale not only does not stick 

 closely to the vicinity of the ice, and to all appearance 

 hide beneath it all the winter, but he really seems to 

 prefer the waters outside of the Antarctic Circle, and 

 is found in large numbers as far north as the Cape of 

 Good Hope. His best-loved region would appear to 

 be, roughly, the vast stretch of ocean between 30° and 

 65'' S. He is especially fond of the vicinity of land, 

 and half a century ago, in addition to a goodly fleet 

 of vessels, mostly French, cruising in those regions in 

 search of him, there were many shore whaling stations, 

 established at some point where there was good har- 

 bourage and facility for dealing with the gigantic 

 prizes. The crews of these stations were usually a 

 motley, hard-bitten crowd, co-partners, fierce, and 

 careless of risk to life or limb. They chased the whale 

 from shore in their boats, and having killed him had 

 a herculean task to tow him back. The work both of 



