THE WUITE WHALE. I49 



harpoon appears hardly to feel it, but continues lying like 

 a log of wood before he attempts to escape. Large whales, 

 however, are sometimes very cunning and courageous, and 

 commit fearful havoc with their tails and jaws. When 

 alarmed they are said to perform many unusual actions ; one 

 of these consists in moving the tail slowly from side to side 

 on the surface of the water, as if feelnig for any object that 

 may be near. It also rolls over and over on the surface, 

 especially when harpooned, and in this v.-ay will coil an 

 amazing length of line around it. One of its most surprising 

 feats is leaping out of the water. Darwin remarks that off 

 Terra del Fuego he saw several spermaceti w^iales perform- 

 ing this stupendous leap, and as they fell into the water side- 

 ways the sound reverberated like distant thunder. 



The White Whale is described as a very beautiful animal, 

 frequenting chiefly the Arctic seas, varying in length from 

 ten to twenty feet. It is usually of a cream color, though 

 some have been seen of a yeUowish color, approaching to 

 orange. In the dreary monotony of the icy regions, a lively 

 herd of these animals, by their gambols and the exhibition 

 of their smooth, slippery white bodies, affords a pleasing 

 relief. The shape of this whale is highly symmetrical, re- 

 sembling a double cone, one end of which is considerably 

 shorter than the otiier ; the tail is very powerful, and being 

 bent under the body in swimming, is worked with such force 

 as to impel the animal forward with the velocity of an ar- 

 row. The food of this whale is said to be cod, haddock, 

 flounders and smaller fish of this description. They are not 

 at all shy, but often follow ships and tumble about amidst 

 the boats in herds of thirty and forty. Fortunately for 

 them, this fearlessness of danger does not often expose them 

 to the deadly harpoon, their comparative little value being 

 their preservative from the whale-fishers. They do not, how- 

 ever, experience the same immunity from the natives of the 

 Greenland coast, where they arrive in great numbers at the 



