Belugas or White Whales 



four eggs. I cut out the whole sod of earth that 

 contained the nest, as Battye wanted it for the 

 Natural History Museum at Kensington. Un- 

 fortunately I put my big foot into the nest 

 before we got it back to camp, which did not 

 do the eggs any good, for I smashed one and 

 cracked another. 



One morning a school of about twenty belugas, 

 or white whales, came into the fjord. As they 

 were within a few feet of the land, the water 

 here being very deep close in-shore, I went for 

 my twelve-bore Paradox and a supply of ball 

 cartridges. The old whales are almost white in 

 colour, and perhaps eighteen or twenty feet in 

 length, whilst the young ones are a deep slaty 

 tint, and not much smaller than the old ones. 

 The water was so clear that it was quite easy 

 to see them as they swam beneath the surface, 

 coming up to blow at every few yards. I aimed 

 at their heads and, as they appeared above the 

 surface of the water, fired. In all I had five 

 shots, killing four whales, the fifth was mortally 

 wounded, but turned away towards the open sea, 

 going all along the surface like a giant torpedo, 

 where it sank. The four sank at once to the 

 shots, killed instantaneously. They were re- 

 covered by some Swedes with harpoons, who 

 towed them to the shore and flayed them. The 

 skin of these whales is used for boot-leather and 

 is, I understand, admirable for that purpose, 



