BALEEN, OR WHALE-BONE. 369 



whole. The under part of the head, as denned by the 

 jaw-bone, is flat, and measures from sixteen to twenty 

 feet in length, and from ten to twelve feet in breadth. 

 The lips, which are of proportionate thickness, enclose the 

 " cavernous recesses " of the mouth in a remarkable 

 manner. The upper jaw curves inwardly at the edges, 

 like a boat turned upside down, so as to shut in the an- 

 terior and upper parts of this " fearful cavity ; " fearful, in 

 truth, if it be capable, as some writers assert, of receiving 

 a ship's jolly-boat, fully manned being fifteen or sixteen 

 feet in length, ten or twelve feet in height, and six or 

 eight feet in width. 



The mouth has no teeth, but is lined by two extensive 

 rows of baleen, or " whale-bone," suspended from the upper 

 jaw, and curved longitudinally, so as to give the roof of 

 the mouth an arched form. Between their lower ex- 

 tremities they enclose the tongue, which is fixed from 

 root to tip, and incapable of being protruded ; and they 

 themselves are covered by the nether lip. Each row con- 

 sists of about two hundred plates of baleen, resembling a 

 frame of saws in a saw-mill ; these plates are longest in 

 the middle, and gradually diminish both in front and 

 rear. Their average length is from ten to fourteen feet ; 

 and it is estimated that a large whale will yield a ton of 

 baleen.. 



The Greenland whale, like Milton's monks, is "black, 

 white, and gray/ 7 with, however, a tinge of yellow : the 

 back, most of the upper jaw, and part of the lower, the 

 fins, and tail, are black ; the lips, anterior part of the 

 lower jaw, and a portion of the abdomen, white ; the eye- 

 lids, the junction of the tail with the body, and a portion 

 of the "axilla" of the fins, are gray. The older the 



