AFFECTION OF THE WHALE. 361 



With some slight exaggeration, it may be said that the 

 whale hears by the nose and smells by the ear. 



II. CHARACTER OF THE WHALE. 



As in all other tribes, so among the whales, the dif- 

 ferent genera differ greatly in their habits and disposition. 

 Some, too, possess a higher intellectual organization than 

 others, excel in courage, powers of endurance, or amiabi- 

 lity of character. But to all the species one faculty seems 

 to be common, and that is their mutual affection, whe- 

 ther as regards the mother and her young, the cub and 

 its parent, or the several members of the same family 

 or shoal. The female watches over her nurslings, or 

 " suckers," as they are called, with vigilant affection ; 

 and the whalers, therefore, frequently strike them, not 

 for their own value, but in order to bring the mothers to 

 their defence. Captain Markham was told that a whale, 

 having a young one in company, will, when struck, inva- 

 riably kill it if she gets a chance. And he relates the 

 following adventure : 



He was out in a boat, acting as steerer, when he saw 

 "a heavy blast" some distance ahead, accompanied by a 

 small one, signs which his harpooneer interpreted to mean 

 a " monstrous big fish with its sucker." With another 

 boat in company, away they went in chase. Judging, 

 from the course she took, where she would rise for breath- 

 ing purposes, they lay on their oars, and waited for her. 

 The plan proved successful, for the whale rose close to 

 " Harky Hunter," who, pulling quietly up, delivered his 

 harpoon ; all yelling at the top of their voices, " A fall, a 

 fall ! " But though so easily struck, she was not so 

 easily killed, but proved a difficult and troublesome cus- 



