370 THE WHALE'S VELOCITY. 



animal, the more white and gray are present in his colour- 

 ing ; and some individuals are completely piebald. 



The most valuable part of the animal is the " blubber," 

 which lies in a kind of wrapper all round his monstrous 

 body, from eight to fifteen inches in thickness. In some 

 old whales it is said to resemble the substance of salmon, 

 but in the younger it is yellowish white. The lower jaw, 

 except the two bones, consists almost wholly of blubber. 

 The oil is retained in minute cellules. Four tons of 

 blubber yield three tons of oil. 



Notwithstanding the great size of the Greenland whale, 

 and his apparently unwieldy form, his motions are not 

 deficient in rapidity. If disturbed when lying prone 

 on the surface of the sea, like Milton's Satan, "supine 

 upon the flood," he will sink, in five or six seconds, 

 beyond the reach of his human antagonists. Dr. Scoresby 

 has observed a whale descending, after he had harpooned 

 him, to the depth of four hundred yards, at the rate of seven 

 or eight miles an hour. The usual velocity of these 

 animals, however, when on their passage from one situa- 

 tion to another, seldom exceeds four miles an hour ; but 

 they are capable, for the space of a few minutes, of dart- 

 ing through the water with the swiftness of a frigate 

 under full sail, and of rising with such rapidity as to 

 spring sheer out of the water. 



The Greenland whale usually remains at the surface 

 for about two minutes to inhale a fresh supply of air ; and 

 during this interval he " blows " eight or nine times. He 

 remains underneath for five, ten, or even twenty minutes, 

 frequently sinking to the depth of about a mile. In 

 " blowing " the whale makes a noise which may be com- 

 pared to the roar of artillery. The vapour discharged 



