THE GIANTS OF LABRADOR. 149 



At first I could not believe the man^s story, but 

 he was apparently in his right mind, and spoke with 

 so much confidence that (reserving the power of 

 being able to say next day, " Ave were wrongly 

 informed ^^) I wrote the "par," which I sent to 

 the printer, Avith the last " slips " of my article. 

 After this, I went home, but about midnight it sud- 

 denly occurred to me to go on board the Jackson 



beards. The whale has no teeth, and does not masticate. It feeds 

 only upon very small tish, and upon mollusks. 



Nature has bestowed upon the whale swimming fins of a force aud 

 structure proportioned to its size, not composed of bones connected 

 with each other by membranes, but of bones articulated like those in a 

 man's hand. An enormous tail, laid horizontally and not vertically 

 (as the tails of ordinary fishes are), completes the locomotive apparatus 

 of the whale. The enormous layer of fat which envelopes the monster 

 greatly enlarges the volume of its body, aud keeps the water at a con- 

 venient distance from the blood, which, without it, would be chilled. 

 It also serves to preserve the natural heat of the creature. 



The Cachelot {Macroccphalus) is less powerful than the "right 

 whale," and, although frequently of greater length, is always less bulky. 

 It is even more prized by the fishermen. It differs considerably from the 

 "right whale." Its lower jaw is furnished with conical teeth, some- 

 what bent backwards, the exterior of which has the colour and hardness 

 of ivory, but when they are deprived of their enamel they are softer aud 

 not so white. The sailors, who utilize every part of the Cachelot 

 whale, prize them greatly. 



The whalers hold in inferior estimation the hump-backed whales 

 {Megaptera) and the fin-backed whales (Balcenoptera), for they give 

 much less oil than the "right whales" and the Cachelots, For all 

 that, however, when there is nothing better in the way they will hunt 

 the blowing- whale, albeit he is not more than twenty feet long by seven 

 or eight round. The last-named whale, be it observed, produces a 

 single barrel of first-rate oil. 



For a long time it was supposed that there was only one species of 

 " right whale," and this error was persisted in until M. Delalande 

 brought to the Museum of Natural History the complete skeleton of 



