THE HUMP-BACKED WHALE. 525 



oars high into the air. It is a very affectionate animal, holding firmly to its mate, and 

 protecting its young with a fearlessness that is quite touching to any one except a 

 whaler, who takes advantage of the poor creature's natural affection to decoy the 

 mother within reach of his harpoon. 



As far as is yet known, the Greenland Whale produces only a single cub at a birth. 

 When first born, the young Whale is without the baleen, depending upon its mother for 

 its subsistence like any other young mammal. The maternal Whale keeps close to her 

 offspring until the baleen is grown, and does not forsake it until it is capable of support- 

 ing itself. The young Whales, before the baleen has developed itself, are technically 

 termed " suckers," and when the baleen is six feet in length, they are called by the 

 name of " size." 



The tongue of this Whale cannot be prt>truded from the mouth, as it is fixed throughout 

 its entire length. It is very large, soft, and full of oil, so soft, indeed, that a man can 

 make a depression deep enough to contain his closed fist by a tolerably strong pressure ; 

 as I can testify by personal experience. The bones are porous and are very full of oil, the 

 jawbones being so heavily charged with this valuable substance that they are removed 

 from the animal, and so fastened in the rigging as to permit the oil to drain from them. 



When the Greenland Whale is undisturbed, it generally remains at the surface of 

 the water for ten minutes, and " spouts " eight or nine times. It then descends for a 

 short time, from five to twenty minutes, and returns again to the surface for the pur- 

 pose of respiration. But when harpooned, it dives to a very great depth, and does not 

 return to the surface until half an hour has elapsed. By noticing the direction of the 

 line which is attached to the harpoon, the whalers judge of the spot in which the 

 creature will rise, and generally contrive to be so near their victim when it emerges 

 that they can fix another harpoon, or strike it with a lance before it can again descend 

 into the depths of the ocean. 



Several species of the genus Balaena are found inhabiting the different oceans of our 

 globe, such as the Western Australian Whale, the Cape Whale, the Japan Whale, the 

 New Zealand Whale, the Scrag Whale, and others, of which the best known is the Cape 

 Whale, or Southern Whale, as it is sometimes called. 



This animal attains a considerable size, reaching the length of seventy feet when 

 full grown, the length of its head being sixteen feet. It inhabits the Southern Ocean, 

 and is often seen in the bays that adjoin the Cape of Good Hope in the months of 

 June, July, and August, as the female is in the habit of frequenting these localities 

 during the infancy of her young. The males are very seldom seen near their mates, 

 so that out of sixty Cape Whales that were killed in False Bay only one was a male. 

 The color of this animal is a uniform black. 



SEVERAL species of the HUMP-BACKED, or BUNCHED, WHALES are now known, 

 although there is very great difficulty in deciding upon the distinctions that are need- 

 ful for the founding of a species, in animals which are necessarily so far beyond our 

 reach except on rare anjd limited occasions. 



In all these animals the head is rather broad and flattened, and the throat and chest 

 are marked with deep longitudinal folds or " reeves," as they are termed by Dudley in 

 his account of the Bunch Whale. These folds are perceptible even on the sides, and 

 extend as far as the fins. The hump or bunch is of no very great size, being only a 

 foot or so in height, and hardly larger than a man's head. These animals may easily 

 be distinguished from those of the succeeding genus by their shorter and more stout 

 forms, the warty lip, and the large and rounded nose. The skull is about one-fourth 

 of the entire length of the animal. 



The species which is figured in the accompanying illustration is that of JOHNSTON'S 

 HUMP-BACKED WHALE, a species which frequently attains very considerable dimen- 

 sions, measuring from sixty to seventy feet in length. In spite however, of its great 

 size, it is not sought after by the whalers, and even if it should accidentally come 

 across the course is seldom disturbed by them. Its oil, however, is said to be superior 

 to that which is furnished by the Greenland Whale, and not much inferior to the oil 

 of the Sperm Whale. 



