80 THE WHALE AND 



The Jaw Bone. Nantucket Gate-posts. 



assistance of a drawing, yet a tolerably cor- 

 rect idea may be obtained of it, by comparison 

 with known shapes and objects, and by accurate 

 dimensions. 



It is curiously adapted to the habits of the 

 animal, and is unlike any other head in nature. 

 Its general shape is not unlike a flat-soled, 

 round-toed shoe, the sides being straight, and 

 the widest part, or heel, joining the body. The 

 lower jaw is, say, eight or ten feet wide, where 

 it joins the body, and grows narrower toward 

 the nose, so that when the jaw-bones are clean- 

 ed from the flesh they form a bluntly-pointed 

 arch, and are often preserved and used as gate- 

 posts ; many of them may be seen, about New 

 Bedford and Nantucket, applied to this use. 

 The skull or crown bone (for there is no upper 

 jaw) is a single bone, rounded on its roof or top, 

 about four or five feet wide at the neck, and 

 gradually lessening to the nostrils or blow-holes, 

 which are at its outward extremity. To this 

 bone is attached the whalebone of commerce, 

 which is in slabs averaging about a quarter of 

 an inch thick. The longest are nearest the 

 body, and are eight or ten inches wide where 

 they join the skull, and are in a large whale six 



