334 A WHITE WHALE SHOT. Chap. XYH.. 



end of the Long Lake, and our travelling boat 

 near its west end, at the head of False Strait. 



Monday, 15/A. — Strong east winds, with much 

 rain, have imprisoned us here for the last four 

 days, and driven the whole pack close in, com- 

 pletely filling up Cresswell Bay. We remain 

 fast to the grounded ice, which shields us from 

 pressure, otherwise we should have been driven 

 irretrievably on shore. A couple more seals 

 and a white whale have been shot ; the latter 

 measured 13^ feet long, and proved to be a 

 female of ordinary dimensions, and of an 

 uniform cream colour ; the eyes are extremely 

 small, and orifices of the ears scarcely large 

 enough to admit a crow-quill. We dined off 

 steaks of the flesh, and prefer it to seal, which 

 it very much resembles, but is not quite so 

 tender ; the skin is greatly prized by the 

 Greenlanders as an antiscorbutic ; it is a sort 

 of gristly gelatinous substance, nearly half an 

 inch thick, and possessing very little taste ; fried 

 and eaten with fish-sauce, it reminded me of 

 cod sound, though not so good. 



The blubber fills two twenty-gallon casks ; 

 it produces oil of a quality superior to seal oil ; 

 not an ounce of the flesh or skin of this huge 

 animal has been thrown away, the men having 

 a wholesome dread of scurvy, and unbounded. 



