148 SPOKT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



One evening after this, I was alone in tlie office 

 of the newspaper, writing some " copy'' for which 

 the printers were waiting, when a tap carae to the 

 door of my sanctum. 



"Come in," said Ij and then entered one of tlie 

 pilots of the port, who asked whether I belonged to 

 the staff of the paper. 



''Certainly, my good fellow; and what good news 

 have you brought us ? " 



''Well, sir, it's news that'll be like to make a 

 noise in town to-morrow morning." 



"What is it?'' 



"This afternoon, about three o'clock, a large 

 whale stranded on the north end of Long 

 Island." 



"Nonsense ! A whale ! Why, it's impossible." 



"It's the truth, I assure you, and a 'right whale,' 

 too." * 



* The head of a "right whale" measures nearly one-fourth of his 

 whole length. Two canals or vents, reaching from the depths of tlie 

 jaw to the top of the skull, enable the creature to breathe and spurt 

 forth the water which enters its throat. The double column of water 

 may be seen six miles off, rising to a height of twenty feet above the 

 level of the sea. The man on the watch then signals a whale, and the 

 ship is steered in that direction. 



The aperture of the mouth of the " right whale" is large enough to 

 allow a man to pass down it. The upper jaw is furnished on both 

 sides with an apparatus of from four to five hundred fins, the parallel, 

 flexible strips which are known as whalebone. Each fin is fixed by 

 the upper end to the gum, which it traverses, and is embedded in the 

 bone ; but as there is a fringe of hair attached to the concave edge of 

 the fins which protrudes beyond the lips, the large blades of whalebone 

 which supply the place of teeth in the whale are improperly termed 



