THE ARCTin SEAS. 135 



head, which, by a peculiar rising or hurai) at that 

 part, is the very higliest part of the animal when 

 liorizontal, so that it can breathe when none of its 

 body is exposed except the very orifice itself The 

 Whale often begins to breathe when a little below the 

 surface, and then the force with which the air is 

 expired blows up the water lying above in a jet or 

 stream, which with the condensed moisture of the 

 breath itself constitutes what are called " the spout- 

 ings," and which are attended with a rushing noise 

 that may be heard upwards of a mile. Some naturalists 

 liave maintained that a stream of water is ejected from 

 the blow-hole in the form of an united column, mount- 

 ing high before it falls again in a shower. But from 

 my own observation on many individuals (seen in the 

 Atlantic), I incline to the former conclusion ; as I 

 have invariably seen the ejected matter, instead of 

 Ibrming a column, and falling in a shower, sail away 

 upon the breeze like a little white cloud. These 

 were, I suppose, Rorquals : but what is true of one 

 species, is probably true of all. There are one or 

 two other beautiful contrivances connected with the 

 structure of this air-passage, that are well worth 

 noticing. In the agony and terror caused by the 

 blow of tlie harpoon, the Whale usually plunges 

 directly downward into the depths of the sea, and 

 that with such force that the mouth has been found 

 on returning to the surface, covered with the mud of 

 the bottom ; while in some instances the jaws, and in 

 others the skull, have been fractured by the violence 

 wit)! which they have struck the ground. A Whale 

 has been known to descend perpendicularly to tlie 



