ON THE GREENLAND RIGHT- WHALE. 33 



"Den 20de Art er Nord-Hval. Denne er den længste af alle de Hvalfiskesorter man 

 kjender, da den er 80 Alen lang, nogle sige at den kommer meget sjelden til Island ; den siges 

 ikke at opholde sig af andet end Regn og Snevand, eller halvstørknet Snee. Dens Mund har 

 en lille Aabning og Bardterne sidde tvers over hans Hals eller Strube, hvorfor den og ofte 

 doer deraf, at den kan ikke lukke Munden, i særdeleshed da den er tyrstig. Denne Pisk er 

 meget feed og den storste Deel af den er Hovedet, og den er ligesaa tyk, som den er 

 lang; Barderne ere 18 Alen lange og ere derfor meget fordeelagtige, naar den driver paa 

 Landet." 



"Den 17de Hvalfiske-Art er Sletbak eller Sletbag. Den er 25 Alen lang, naar den er 

 længst, den er og meget feed, hvorfor og dens Mængde formindskes meget ved Hval-fangere, der 

 ligge og krydse meget efter dens Fangst omkring Landet." 



(The twentieth species is the North whale. This is the longest of all the Cetaceans we 

 know, being eighty ells long ; some say that it very seldom comes to Iceland ; it is said to subsist 

 on nothing but rain- and snow-water, or half-frozen snow. Its mouth has a small aperture, and 

 the whalebone is placed across its throat, by which means it often dies, because it cannot shut 

 its mouth, especially as it is thirsty. This fish is very fat, and the greater part of it is the head, 

 and it is as thick as it is long, the whalebone is eighteen ells long, and therefore it gives great 

 profit when such an animal is driven ashore. 



The seventeenth species of Cetaceans is the Sletbak or Sletbag. It is twenty-five ells 

 long when it is longest, it is also very fat, wherefore its numbers are considerably diminished by 

 whalers who are continually beating near the country in order to catch it.) 



Prom this description, as well as from the one preserved by Bartholin, we see that the 

 Icelanders' knowledge of the Cetaceans made, generally speaking, no progress from the twelfth 

 till the eighteenth century ; but at the same time it will be observed that even then it was the 

 " Sletbag" that was caught by the whalers near Iceland. Nor is it quite unimportant for us to 

 learn that the North whale was, also then, a rare visitor near Iceland ; nor is the statement of 

 its food being Avater filled with snow or half-frozen snow totally destitute of interest ; for by 

 that our supposition is confirmed that, near the coasts of Iceland, also, it only lived in the water 

 when it was filled with ice, and in winter. At all events, so much seems finally proved by 

 these statements of ancient and more modern dates, that the Icelanders have at all times agreed 

 in regarding the " Sletbag" as an animal quite diff"erent from the North whale, or the Greenland 

 whale, being, in fact, a right-whale of inferior size, and with much shorter whalebone ; and, at 

 the same time, it is proved beyond all possibility of doubt, that this " Sletbag " of the Icelanders 

 was the very one that was himted by the Basques in the summer, in the sea near Iceland, during 

 the long period of at least two centuries. 



If we now turn to other sources in order to obtain further information about such a right- 

 whale, smaller and more active than the North whale, and belonging to the Northern Atlantic, 

 we have already stated that we do not know any description of the "Sarde" of the Basques 

 that in antiquity can be compared with that of the " Sletbag " of the Icelanders found in the 

 " Kongespeil." For although the whale-fishery in the Bay of Biscay is of rather remote 

 antiquity, and various regulations concerning it in the thirteenth and seventeenth century are 

 still preserved, the appearance of the whale is never described in any of these. On the other 

 hand, we find very important information about the " Sarde " in the instructions already men- 

 tioned, which the English Muscovy Company gave to Mr. Edge, for his use on his first whaling 



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