3 66 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



soft cushion, and in each box a white whale lay on these pneumatic 

 cushions. A plug in the bottom of each box had let the water out 

 while the boxes were being lifted by the rope handles on the sides, 

 but when on the cars the plugs were replaced and water to the depth 

 of a foot was poured in; this served to keep the under parts moist, 

 while frequent sponging or the use of a dipper served to keep the 

 skin from drying. The nostril, or " blow-hole," needed the most 

 attention, for it has a valve which must not be allowed to get even 

 partially dry, and a saturated sponge was kept suspended over this 

 all the time during the journey by rail to New York. 



The white whale is a very timid animal, and comes up the St. 

 Lawrence in May and June, when the young are brought forth; it 

 is believed that they then go to the river to avoid their enemies, 

 among which is the u killer " or orca whale. Their food, according 

 to Professor Goode, is " bottom fish, like flounders and halibut, cod, 

 haddock, salmon, squids, and prawns." From my knowledge of 

 this whale in confinement I am surprised at the above list, for those 

 under my observation not only preferred live eels, but could not 

 swallow one whose diameter was over one inch, and it was difficult 

 to get quantities of eels as small as three quarters of an inch in 

 diameter, especially when an adult whale would consume about 

 twenty pounds in a day. When larger eels were placed in the tank 

 they would be taken out dead in a day or two with their sides 

 scratched and torn by the small teeth of the whale which had failed 

 to swallow it. We tried other food, for eels are quite expensive in 

 New York city, costing fifteen and eighteen cents per pound, but 

 the whales refused small flatfish, flounders, etc., and the only other 

 food they ate was small tomcods. They refused dead herrings 

 and all fish that were cut in pieces. 



The animals are captured at the small French fishing village of 

 Riviere 1'Ouelle, on Isle aux Coudres, seventy miles below Quebec, 

 where life is as primitive as it was two hundred years ago in this, 

 one of the oldest of Canadian settlements. Luke Tilden, one of 

 our aquarium men, who went up with Zach. Coup, told of the capture 

 of the whales, and the following is from notes taken by me as Luke 

 told it: The men all fish and the women do a little gardening, but 

 their harvest is the marsouin, a name common to the white whale and 

 to the black porpoise. A fair white whale will weight eight hundred 

 pounds and yield nearly one hundred gallons of oil worth fifty cents 

 per gallon, so that when they trap twenty in a season it means pros- 

 perity to the colony; in 1874 they took one hundred, but the catch 

 has fallen off since. " When we reached the island," said Luke, " we 

 went straight to Father Alixe Pelletier and donated ten dollars to 

 the Church for prayers for our success, and it was well invested. 



