168 ESCHRICHT ON THE 



into a bay near Rivertshavn, where, breaking loose, it gave one of its antagonists such a blow 

 directly on its head ^vitll the edge of its tail, that he sank to the bottom very slowly, most 

 probably mortally wounded. Then the whale went into the inner part of the bay, where its 

 head struck on the shore, and in this position it became an easy prey to the Greenlanders." 



The same gentleman, so very well acquainted with everything relating to Greenland, asserts, 

 however, at the same time, that the killers, that are so much feared by the seals, are themselves 

 afraid of the walrus. His account of a case that happened at Norsuak, in the north of Green- 

 land, is to the following effect : " Some Greenlanders were just going to attack a walrus at rest, 

 when a shoal of kiUers came to attack it from the opposite side, but the walrus went to meet 

 them, and the whole shoal, it was told, dispersed immediately in every direction. The Green- 

 landers saw at some distance the largest of the kdlers emerging again with the walrus, by whose 

 teeth it had been transfixed." (Furthermore, Motzfeldt does not make any distinction between 

 the high-finned and low-finned killers as different species : " It is surprising," he says, " that 

 Fabricius should have made two different species of Ardluk and Ardlurksoak, as it is only the 

 size which is expressed by the difference of these two names. In this manner, the number of 

 the species might be increased at will by similar inflections of the words, as Ardlurujuksoak, 

 Ardlukulorsuak," &c.) 



Captain HolboU's own account of the manner of living of the killers, is to the following effect : 

 " In the year 1827, I was myself an eye-witness of a great slaughter performed by these 

 rapacious animals. A shoal of Belugas had been pursued by these blood-thirsty animals into a 

 bay in the neighbourhood of Godhavn, and were there literally torn to pieces by them. Many 

 more of the Belugas were killed than eaten, so that the Greenlanders besides their own booty, 

 got a good share of that of the kdlers. In the year 1830, a large krepokak {Megaptera 

 longimand) was overpowered by an Orca, in the neighbourhood of Narparsok, according to the 

 statements of the Greenlanders, and torn to pieces after it was dead. Almost fifteen barrels 

 of the blubber floating about at the place where the struggle had taken place, fell to the share of 

 the Greenlanders. It is principally the blubber that is the most coveted food of the killers, not 

 the tongue as I have seen stated in several places. In this krepokak especially, the tongue was 

 found untouched, and was afterwards flensed by the Greenlanders. " 



As the result of these researches and new statements, we believe that we are now able to 

 declare — 



1. That all statements about some species of cachalots subsisting on warm-blooded animals 

 (more especially a Pliyseter microps) are only founded on misconceptions. 



2. The assertions made from times of old, about the fierce nature of the Orcas are, on the 

 other hand, perfectly true, though, indeed, they partly subsist on large fishes. They are able to 

 swallow whole porpoises, as well as seals, even very large individuals, four at least immediately 

 after one another (according to Nilsson's observation), and in the course of a few days as many 

 as twenty-seven individuals, nor do they fear to attack and tear to pieces even the very largest 

 whalebone-whales, in order to satisfy their hunger on their blubber. 



