oe 
- bay, in Omenak’s firth, or Corne- 
bay, in the 72°; at Upernavik, in the 73°. 
— The whites a of the Russians, and kelleluak 
of the is ise a migrating animal, and 
visits the coast of West Greenland Maloy every year 
about the end of November. It is, next to the seal, the 
most useful animal to the Greenlanders, and it comes at 
a season when their provisions fall very short. It arrives 
in flocks, in very stormy weather, when the wind blows 
from the south-west. It has a short, roundish, very fleshy, 
head, but the skull is longish and flat ; the eyes and the 
mouth are small; in jaw of each side are nine 
teeth ; the yral fins are nearly of an oval form ; and 
beneath their skin may be felt the bones of five fingers, 
which terminate in five very distinct projections. The 
body is round, oblong, and well rtioned ; and its 
tail is divided into two lobes, which lie horizontally. 
Its length is from twelve to seventeen feet. In swim- 
ming it makes great use of the lobes of its tail, bend- 
ing them under the body, and working it with such 
force as to dart along with the velocity of an arrow, 
One of the large size yields five barrels of good blub- 
ber. Its flesh is somewhat similar to that of beef, though 
oily ; its skin is eaten raw, dried and boiled. _ Its oil is 
of the best, whitest, and finest quality. The intestines 
are used for windows, and the curtains of tents. The 
sinews, when split, give the, best sort of strong thread. 
The female white-fish has two nipples, and yields a yel- 
lowish-white milk, but it produces only a single young 
one, which is of a fine pearl-grey colour, but it after- 
wards grows white. The pearl-grey young is called utak 
by the natives. The full grown are the most beautiful 
animals; they are not shy, and sometimes follow, tum- 
bling themselves round the boats. They are killed with 
harpoons, and also caught in large strong nets, which 
are set in narrow Sade between the islands. 
The porpoise, or Delphinus delphis; the nise, or Del- 
phinus phocena; and the sword-fish, or Delphinus orca, 
are frequently seen on the coast, but very rarely caught. 
Wuates.—There are different species of whales 
which visit the coast of West Greenland, viz. Balena 
ym, or fin-fish, called tunnolik by the Green- 
anders ; Balena musculus, or northcaper, (Green. kepo- 
karnak) ; Balena rostrata, (Green. tigagulik) ; .Balena 
boops, (Green. keporkak), and Balena mysticetus, or the 
Greenland whale, called arbek by the natives. The Ba- 
lena boops, or butekopy, ‘comes r ly to the coast in 
the neigbourhood of Fredrikshaab about the end of July, 
~ when the Greenlanders, both men and women, go out 
in their canoes. The men in their small canoes follow 
the whale, and continue to throw a great number of 
s and lances into the animal, until it dies from 
loss. of blood. They afterwards join their canoes, fasten 
their spoil to them, and carry the booty to their houses, 
where it is divided. 
The Balena boops is a smaller kind of whale, its 
length being from twenty to twenty-five feet. It has a 
fin on its back, and alsoa soap which grows to- 
wards the tail. It has long rugged wrinkles under 
its neck, that are white inside, and greyish-black on 
their elevation. A great number of the shells called Le- 
a! balenaris, or Lepas diadema, are found near its fins. 
ts body is longer, and sharper behind and before, than 
that of the other whales. Its back is of a black, and 
its belly of a greyish-white colour ; the whalebones of 
this species rarely exceed the length of one foot. Its 
blubber is thin, and not very oily, This whale follows 
always along the coast r to the north, and it is 
GREENLAND. 
499 
also caught by the Greenlanders in Disco Bay. 
Balena mysticetus, the great or Greenland whale, 
on account of its b 
which affords much oil ; it is also the most tame, and 
the easiest to be caught, on account of its unwieldy 
size. It has no back-fin, The head of it forms one- 
third part of the whole body. Its eyes are very small in 
ol aga not much bigger than those of an ox, and 
lack, with a white iris ; they lie deep, and are placed 
above the junction of both lips. Instead of ears, a hole 
appears on each side of its head, so small that it is 
scarcely discernible, not admitting any thing thicker 
than a one uill ; but within the flesh there is a larger 
orifice, formed like an ear, which enables it, as has been 
noticed, to hear very distinctly. The two holes, or pipes, 
on the top of its head, are crooked, and very similar to 
the holes in the belly of a violin. They are for recei- 
ving air, as well as for discharging the water which 
it swallows by its mouth. This is forced upwards 
through these holes in very large quantities, and to a 
considerable height, (of some fathoms) with such a 
noise, that it roars like a hollow wind, and may be 
heard at three miles distance. When wounded, it 
blows more fiercely than ever, the water frequently be~ 
ing mixed with blood. Its throat is uncommonly nar- 
row, not exceeding the width of one inch and a half. 
Its tongue is eighteen feet long, when the animal mea- 
sures fifty-six or sixty feet; it is then ten feet broad, is 
very fibrous, floats on the water, and affords four to six 
barrels of oil; its weight is to 600 or 800 pounds. The 
tongue is inclosed in long pieces of a corneous sub-« 
stance, generally called whalebones ; and these are co-« 
vered on their interior side with a kind of fibre, or 
straight hair of the same substance, similar to coarse 
horse hair. On each side of the tongue are commonly 
found 250 of different lengths; the longest are about 
the middle, and decrease. towards the snout and the 
throat ; they are attached to the upper jaw. The un 
der jaw forms with the jaw bones an oblong triangular 
deep bason, of a tendinous and ilaginous substance, 
which is as deep as to cover the longest whalebones in 
their perpendicular shape, when the mouth is clo- 
sed; this receptacle is, of course, deepest towards its 
middle part. The broad ends of the whalebones, where 
they are joined to the palate, are generally one foot 
broad ; they terminate very pointed, and have the form 
of a curved sword; they would wound the tongue, which 
is very delicate, if they were not covered with hair on 
their inside. There are no other teeth in the mouth. 
This whale is very thick from the head to the middle, 
but thinner and sharper towards the tail; its fins and 
its tail stand horizontally. 
In the spring of 1813, a whale was killed at God- p;..onsions 
e le The dimensions of of the 
a whale, killed in the year 1811 at Godhavn, was, Greenland 
int of the whale. 
havn, of ngth of 67 feet. 
from the centre of the mouth to the 
tail, 56 feet. From the point of the under lip to the 
root of the fins 23} feet. From the fins to the 
point between the two lobes or wings of the tail 33 
feet. . The pe of the head was 18 feet. From the 
middle point of the upper lip to the blow-holes 164 feet. 
The length of one of the fins 8 feet 4 inches. The 
thickness of a fin, on its thickest part, | foot 9 inches. 
The breadth of the tail from one extremity of its 
wings to the other, 22 feet 7 inches. The length of 
one of the blow-holes 1] inches. There were 13 ribs on 
each side, and in all 26 ribs. The animal was a female. 
The fins serve this large animal for rudders, to turn in 
the water, and to give a direction to the velocity im- 
pressed by the tail. The tail serves for an oar, to ads 
is —— 
the most valuable and lucrative species of this genus, Balena 
and the great quantity of fat, mysticetus. 
