WHITE WHALE. 443 



and also on Cuttle-fish. The female has usually only 

 one young one, which is born in spring, and is at first 

 of a bluish-grey colour, the change to pure white being 

 said not to take place till it is about two-thirds grown. 



The skin of the Beluga, although so soft in its natural 

 state as hardly to hold a harpoon, affords a very useful 

 leather, which is at once flexible and tough, and its 

 blubber yields oil of excellent quality. For these pro- 

 ducts it is hunted in America, Greenland, and Russia, 

 being either harpooned, or, more frequently, surrounded 

 with strong nets and killed with the lance. Its flesh is 

 much valued in Greenland; in the quaint language of 

 Egede, " it has no bad taste, and when it is marinated with 

 vinegar and salt it is as well tasted as any pork whatever ; 

 the fins also and the tail, pickled or sauced, are very good 

 eating ; so that he is very good cheer." 



The head of the White Whale is small, the forehead 

 rounded, the gape narrow, and the upper jaw a little 

 overhangs the lower. The flippers are very short and 

 broad, oval in shape ; there is no dorsal fin, and the tail 

 is broad and powerful. The colour of the adult animal 

 is entirely white, sometimes with a yellowish or even a 

 rosy tinge. 



The teeth are conical, often truncated, and vary in 

 number from eight to ten on each side of either jaw. 

 M. Van Beneden considers the most usual number to be 

 nine above and eight below on each side. There are 

 about fifty vertebrae in the spinal column, and the 

 number of pairs of ribs is ten. 



The adult animal reaches a length of twelve to sixteen 

 feet, or even more. The dimensions of the Forth spe- 

 cimens as given by Drs. Barclay and Neil are as 

 follows : 



