148 THE OCEAN. 
fore, communicates with the air at the very top of 
the head, which, by a peculiar rising or hump at that 
part, is the very highest part of the animal when 
horizontal, so that it can breathe when none of its body 
is exposed except the very orifice itself. The Whale 
often begins to breathe when a little below the sur- 
face, and then the force with which the air is expired 
blows up the water lying above in a jet or stream, 
which with the condensed moisture of the breath 
itself constitutes what are called “the spoutings,” 
and which are attended with a rushing noise that may 
be heard upwards ofa mile. Some naturalists have 
maintained that a stream of water is ejected from the 
blow-hole in the form of an united column, mounting 
high before it falls again in a shower. But from my 
own observation on many individuals (seen in the 
Atlantic), I incline to the former conclusion; as I 
have invariably seen the ejected matter, instead of 
forming a column, and falling in a shower, sail away 
upon the breeze like a little white cloud. These 
were, I suppose, Rorquals: but what is true of one 
species, is probably true of all. There are one or 
two other beautiful cuntrivances connected with the 
structure of this air-passage, that are well worth no- 
ticing. In the agony and terror caused by the blow 
of the harpoon, the Whale usually plunges directly 
downward into the depths of the sea, and that with 
such force that the mouth has been found on return- 
ing to the surface, covered with the mud of the bot- 
tom; while in some instances the jaws, and in others 
the skull, have been fractured by the violence with 
which they have struck the ground. A Whale has 
