MODERN FIN-WHALING 165 



about them and their ways. Since the introduction of the 

 whaHng steamer, and the publication of Dr. True's admirable 

 monograph on the " Whalebone Whales of the North- West 

 Atlantic," our knowledge has advanced by leaps and bounds, 

 and now we know a good deal about these animals, although 

 many points still remain to be cleared up, especially with regard 

 to the distribution and movements of the several species, which 

 I have carefully studied at home and abroad. 



In a work of this kind I shall not inflict on my readers 

 the dry bones of scientific lore, but shall only place before 

 them just as many details as are necessary to allow them to 

 understand superficially the animals we are about to hunt. 



The Blue Whale is distinguished from the other Rorquals 

 by its superior size and rich colour. All the upper part is a 

 rich zinc-blue slate, the lower a dark blue-grey, whilst the 

 interior parts of the throat and belly grooves are brownish- 

 grey. The pectoral fins are blue-grey with snow-white outer 

 edges. The baleen plates, about 4 feet in length, are black, 

 and number up to 400. The Blue Whale feeds almost ex- 

 clusively on a small red shrimp [Etiphausia), known to the 

 Norwegians as " kril," and "swamps" {Temora longicornis). 

 Adults measure from 70 to 102 feet, and weigh approximately 

 from 150 to 200 tons, and yield over 100 barrels of oil. This 

 whale occurs both in the Atlantic and the Pacific. It has 

 been observed off the fringe of the Antarctic ice, and all along 

 both coasts of America, whilst many winter to the east of the 

 West Indies. In March and April large numbers approach 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, just keeping outside the ice. Here 

 the main body of these western whales separate, one gathering 

 going right up the estuary as the ice breaks, the other turning 

 east along the south coast of Newfoundland, slowly, but closely, 

 fishing the banks of " kril " as far as Cape St. Mary, in 



