CETACEA. 191 



Greenland (a), or Common Wliale).* It has long been considered 

 the largest of all animals ; but from the late observations of Captain 

 Scoresby, it appears that it scarcely ever exceeds seventy feet, a 

 length frequently surpassed by the wrinkle-bellied whales. It has 

 no dorsal fin. To procure its fat or blubber, which is sometimes 

 several feet in thickness, and contains immense quantities of oil, 

 whole fleets are annually equipped. Formerly sufficiently bold to 

 venture into our seas, it has gradually retired to the extreme North, 

 where the number is daily diminishing. Besides oil, it produces for 

 the market black and flexible whalebone, eight or ten feet in length, 

 each individual having from eight to nine hundred strips on each 

 side of the palate. One hundred and twenty tuns of oil are obtained 



It is thought, however, that Juvenal alludes to the common Wliale in the following 

 line, 



" Quanto delphinis balaena britannica major," 

 but the Latins applied the term Balaena, in a general way, to all the great Cetacea, 

 just as the people of the North do that of the Whale, or Wall, and its dei-ivatives, a 

 remark essentially requisite to those who study their writings. 



* The old figure of Martens, re-copied Lacep. I. pi. 1, and in all other authors, 

 icpresents the head too long. 



i^° (a) The Mysticetus and the Cachalots are the only species of Whale pur- 

 sued by the Whale shipping expeditions to the Arctic regions, from this and other 

 countries. The Whale ships from Great Britain are generally vessels of from three 

 to four hundred tons. They collect usually in April, at the Shetland Islands, from 

 which they advance northwards, and gain the fishing station in about a month. This 

 is the common practice, but some vessels start before April, and others again proceed 

 to the fishing stations every month from April to October. Whale ships formerly 

 anchored on the east coast of Greenland, but that station having been deserted by 

 the Whales, the ships now resort to the great inland sea called Biffin's Bay, which 

 they reach by passing through Davis's Straits, quite on the other side of Greenland. 

 Hull is the principal port of the Whale fishery: Peterhead, in Scotland, is the next. 

 At first, the sole object in view in the taking of Whales, was their flesh; but now 

 their value chiefly consists in the blubber and the whalebone which it yields. With 

 respect to the latter, it is the peculiar substance found in a series of laminas or blades 

 in the jaws where the teeth should have been. The number of these blades in each 

 jaw is about three hundred. The blubber, or oleaginous substance, which consti- 

 tutes the most valuable portion of the animal, is situated under the skin, and may 

 be described as a wrapper around the whole of the body, of the thickness of from 

 eight to twenty inches: its colour is represented by Captain Scoresby as of a yellow- 

 ish white, yellow, or red. In the very young animal it is always yellowish-white. 

 In some old animals it resembles the colour of the salmon. It swims in water. Its 

 thickness all round the body is eight, or ten, or twenty inches, varying in different 

 parts, as well as in different individuals. The lips are composed almost entirely of 

 blubber, and yield from one to two tuns of pure oil each. The tongue is chiefly com- 

 posed of a soft kind of fat, that aflfords less oil than any other blubber. The blubber, 

 in its fresh state, is without any unpleasant smell; and it is not until after the ter- 

 mination of the voyage, when the cargo is unstowed, that a Greenland ship becomes 

 disagreeable. 



With respect to the method of killing the animal, it is well known that this is ac- 

 complished by the harpoon. This is flung from the ships or boats, and the fish, in 

 almost every instance, remains about half an hour, but sometimes a good deal longer, 

 underwater, after being struck; and then it often rises at a considerable distance 

 from the spot from which it had made its descent. Immediately after it re-appears, 

 the assisting boats make for the place with their utmost speed, and as they reach it, 

 each harpooner plunges his harpoon into its back, to the amount of three, four, or 

 more, according to the size of the whale and the nature of the situation. Most fre- 

 quently, however, it descends for a few minutes after receiving the second harpoon, 



