flexible, bone-like appendages attached to 

 the roof of the mouth and palate at one 

 end and hanging loose at the opposite 

 end. These are known as the baleen . 

 plates and form the whalebone of com- 

 merce. In the Greenland Whale this 

 whalebone hanging from the center of 

 the jaw is sometimes twelve feet in 

 length, and as there are from two hun- 

 dred and fifty to four hundred in number, 

 the great value of the baleen is readily 

 seen. When the great animal opens its 

 mouth, a row boat with its oarsmen could 

 easily be taken in, yet the animal eats 

 only small crustaceans, moUusks, worms 

 and minute forms of life. 



When the immense mouth opens, it 

 takes in a large amount of water con- 

 taining its food. The mouth then closes, 

 but the water is permitted to flow out, 

 the baleen acting like a sieve, retaining 

 the food supply within and allowing the 

 water to ooze away. The food is re- 

 tained on the great tongue and swallowed 

 at leisure. 



The eye of the whale is very small ; the 

 ear is barely perceptible, yet when sub- 

 merged, the sight is keen and the hear- 

 ing well developed. The nostrils are 

 placed on the top of the head, so that 

 the whale when rising can readily begin 

 the opieration of breathing. With a 

 snorting: noise the animal first blows up 

 the water which has entered the imper- 

 fectly closed nostrils when submerged. 

 This is done with such force that the 

 water is separated into fine drops and 

 thrown fifteen or eighteen feet into the 

 air. The whale then breathes with a 

 rapid inspiration, making a sort of moan- 

 ing sound. When the lungs are filled 

 with air, it will plunge beneath the sur- 

 face of the water and remain for perhaps 

 twenty minutes before appearing again, 

 althougfh when wounded it remains under 

 water a much longer time. 



In spite of its great size the whale is so 

 perfectly adapted to its surroundings that 

 it is a highly active animal. It swims 

 without apparent effort and on account 

 of the qrcat strength of the enormous 

 horizontal tail fin, it can jerk itself above 

 the water and take long leaps. The 

 smoothness of the skin facilitates the 

 passage of the immense bulk through the 

 water and the thick layer of fat dimin- 

 islics the weight so that a whale can 



move with the rapidity of a steamship. 



The Greenland Whale is, on the whole, 

 an amiable animal. It seems to prefer to 

 live at peace with its kind, and although 

 it can make great havoc with its immense 

 tail fin, it seemingly does so by accident 

 rather than from viciousness. 



Like all other animals the whale has 

 its enemies, especially when young. The 

 killer-whale and some sharks hunt and 

 attack the young whales, as indeed they 

 do the older ones ; but the greatest enemy 

 of all is man. For a thousand years he 

 has systematically pursued and captured 

 many species, until some are nearly ex- 

 terminated. The Americans became great 

 whale hunters in the nineteenth century, 

 and in the thirty-eight years from 183=; 

 to 1872 nearly 20,000 ships engaged in 

 this industry. These whaling ships were 

 fitted especially for this work. They 

 were built to withstand the perils of the 

 ice-bound northern seas and were ar- 

 ranged for long voyages. It was a sad 

 day in the coast villages when the whalers 

 sailed on these long, perilous and uncer- 

 tain cruises, for the ships frequently were 

 gone three years and some never came 

 back, though as a whole the actual loss 

 of human life was comparatively small. 

 A number of ships would if possible keep 

 sufficiently near together to render assist- 

 ance in case of accident. 



After reaching the whaling grounds 

 usually two men were kept on the mast 

 as a lookout. When the cry came, 'There 

 they spout!" all became excitement. As 

 soon as it was determined that the 

 whales were the species which they were 

 seeking, the boats were lowered, the har- 

 poons, the lances, the gun, the hatchet, 

 the knife, the blubber-spade, and, most 

 important of all, the line, were all placed 

 in the boat together with a keg of fresh 

 water, some ship's biscuit, the lantern, 

 candles and matches ; and in a very short 

 time the men were lustily pulling toward 

 the monster they hoped to capture. They 

 endeavored to approach the whale from 

 the rear and often were not discovered 

 by the animal until the harpoons were 

 buried in its body. The boat was then 

 rowed backward with great speed, as 

 the whale could easily annihilate it with 

 one blow of its great tail. Frequently 

 the whale would dive down perpendicu- 

 larly to a great depth and if the line was 



36 



