290 NATUEAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



The Eskimo at the Yukon mouth go off in kyaks just as the tide turns and pursue the 

 Belugas until they become confused in the shallow water and get hard aground and are left by the 

 falling tide. Like the Hair Seal the Beluga wanders far up the Yukon, and I know of two in- 

 stauces of their being killed above Anvik, and another has been taken just below Nulato, several 

 hundred miles from the sea. 



On one occasion near Saint Michaels two natives found a White Whale held fast between 

 two large pieces of ice. They secured clubs, having no better weapons, and proceeded to beat 

 the animal to death. This they finally did, and afterwards one of the men told me that all the 

 time they were pounding the poor beast on its back and ribs it kept uttering a sharp squeaking 

 cry like the noise made by a mouse, but louder. 



The flesh of a young Beluga is tender and not unpalatable, but is rather coarse and dry. The 

 fat, or blubber, is clear and white, and is considered to be much superior to seal-oil by the Eskimo 

 and Indians. The intestines are made into waterproof garments or floats, and the sinews are very 

 much prized. Their small ivory teeth are carved into toys or ornamental pendants. The skin is 

 made into strong lines or very durable boot-soles. When well cooked the skin is considered choice 

 eating and is really pleasantly flavored. This refers to the epidermis, which is nearly half an inch 

 thick, soft, and has a flavor recalling that of chestnuts. 



As already noted these animals are very dark colored when young. They become lighter each 

 year until the fourth or fifth season, when they are a pale milky bluish, and about the sixth or 

 seventh year they are a uniform, clear milky white. A small disk around each eye is the lightest 

 colored spot on young animals. The knob-like projecting forehead of the young Beluga be- 

 comes less and less conspicuous until when they are six or eight years old the jaws have grown 

 so as to extend several inches beyond it. The young are about 3 feet long the first month, and. 

 the largest adult I saw was 13 feet in length and must have weighed nearly as many hundred 

 pounds. 



It is claimed that the Beluga of the North Atlantic and adjacent Arctic Ocean reaches a length 

 of 18 feet. From the ^reat number of these animals I saw in Bering Sea and adjacent Arctic 

 Ocean, I am satisfied that in that region they never reach a length of over 14 or possibly 15 feet 

 at the extreme. The average adults seen bj' me ranged from 10 to 12 feet long, and a 13-foot 

 specimen was examined by a dozen or more old Eskimo, who united in declaring it to be a very 

 large one. 



Mr. Murdoch saw large schools of these animals near Point Barrow, and records the fact that 

 they pass to the northeast by the Point as soon as the ice opens offshore sufQciently. He mentions 

 the passing of one herd which contained several hundred individuals. An adult female measured 

 by Murdoch was 12 feet long. 



MoNODON 3IONOCEEOS Linn. Narwhal. 



Biographical notes. — The icy sea from Point Barrow to the Mackenzie Eiver forms the western 

 limit to the range of this strange animal. Along this part of their range we know but very little 

 concerning them. To the eastward of Point Barrow, about the mouth of the Colville Eiver and 

 elsewhere, various English exploiers have noticed their teeth among the natives. 



At Point Barrow Mr. Murdoch saw no living specimens, but saw some of their ivory in the 

 possession of the natives, who recognized di awings of the animal and said they were sometimes 

 killed there. 



Oeca sp. ? Killer Whale (Esk. AM-htl-). 



Biographical notes. — In the North Pacific, all along the Aleutian chain and the Alaskan main- 

 land coast, this voracious animal is common. It is also numerous in the passes and along the 

 northern side of the Aleutian Islands. North of this they are of much less frequent occurrence. 



In May, 1877, from the time we approached within about 400 miles of the Aleutian Islands 

 until we entered Unimak Pass the " Killers " were very common. They were almost invariably 

 in small parties of from three to fifteen individuals and swam side by side in perfect order while 

 they cut through the water with great speed. They swam so close to the surface that the long 



