VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN. 95 



nine or ten months, is very fat ; and the cub, when 

 excluded, is black, and about ten feet long. It 

 continues at the breast for a year. To suckle her 

 young, the mother throws herself upon one side on 

 the surface of the water ; she is frequently seen car- 

 rying it on her back, and when she has occasion to 

 go to the bottom, takes it with her under one of 

 her fins. 



Whalebone was formerly an article of great value 

 in commerce, and at one time sold for dCftOO per 

 ton. It is not now, however, worth a twentieth part 

 of that sum, and is not an object of any attention 

 to the whale fishers. We may remark, that, 

 by an old feudal law, the tail of all whales belong- 

 ed to the Queen,* as a perquisite to furnish her 

 Majesty's wardrobe with whalebone. A strong 

 proof of the ignorance that had at that time prevail- 

 ed respecting this animal. 



The flesh of the whale is variously prepared by 

 the Greenlanders, and is used either when newly 

 catched, or when sub-putrid. The skin, tail, and 

 fins, they eat raw ; the blubber is used either as 

 food, or in lamps ; they dress the intestines like 

 those of the seal. The tendons serve them as 

 thread for nets. The bones serve as timber for 



* Blackstone, vol. i. p. 223. Edit. 1783. 



