CHAPTER V. 

 THE BOWHEAD, OR GREAT POLAR WHALE. 



Bal2ena mystioeths, Linn. (Plate xi.) 



The Bowhead, or Great Polar Whale, is by far the most valuable, in a commer- 

 cial point of view, of all the Bakenidce, and is the chief object of pursuit by the 

 whalemen in the northern seas. From its great yield of oil, which in some individ- 

 uals has exceeded two hundred and seventy -five barrels, with a production of bone 

 or baleen equal to over three thousand five hundred pounds,* one might suppose 

 it to be the largest of all the Cetaceans. Such, however, is not the fact, for it 

 seldom attains the length of sixty -five feet, and it is a stout whale which measures 

 fifty feet between its extremities. The striking feature of the animal is its ponder- 

 ous head, forming, as far as our observations go, more than one -third of the whole 

 creature, which is short, bulky, and bloated in its appearance. Its upper jaw, or 

 the top of the head, is curved downward more than that of the Right Whale 

 [Balcena SieboldiiF), to which it bears the nearest resemblance. To the edge of this 

 jaw, the long, finely fringed, transverse layers of baleen are attached, projecting 

 downward and outward, and hedging in, as it were, the animal's tongue, and all is 

 inclosed by the under lip when the mouth is shut. The tongue is incapable of 

 protrusion, being fixed from near its point to the root. It is a mass of spongy fat, 

 intermixed with sinewy flesh, and yields one -tenth as much oil as the "body -blub- 

 ber." The two extended rows of baleen which line the sides of the upper jaw 

 provide the means by which the animal secures its insect food, which is the chief 

 sustenance of the colossal mysticetus. Its eyes, which in size quadruple those of 

 an ox, are placed, one on each side, about a foot above and behind the angle of 

 the mouth. The spiracles are at the apex of the high protuberance on the head, 

 which is forward of the eyes, Its short but heavy pectorals are placed about two 

 feet from the eyes and nearly in a horizontal line with them. Its ears are a little 

 above and behind the eyes ; they are simply openings, not over one -fourth of an 



* Vide Roys' first voyage in the Arctic. 



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