76 



BALJENIB^. 



diminish away to nothing at each extremity ; the largest fin on the 

 side is called the " sample blade." 



Three distinct kinds are known in the trade: — 1. The Oreenlamd^ 

 from Greenland, Davis' Straits, and various parts of the North Sea, 

 which is the best. 2. The South-Sea, or Blaekfish vShale-jm, brought 

 by the South-Sea whalers. And, 3. The North-west Coast, or Ame- 

 rican whale-fin, which was first imported about five years ago, and 

 at first sold at a high price, but it has now fallen, and is considered 

 as only a large kind of South-Sea. But from the examination I have 

 been able to make, I believe that these three kinds are each produced 

 by very different species of "Whales. 



The three kinds are very diflferent in shape. The outer edge of 

 the Oreenland is curved considerably; in that of the North-west 

 Coast it is much more straight, and in that of the South Sea almost 

 quite straight. Figs. 3, 4, and 5, in plate 1 of the ' Zoology of the 

 Erebus and Terror,' represent the three different kinds in the same 

 position, and on the same scale, being one-fourteenth of the natural 

 length and breadth. The fibres on the edge in the Cfreenland and 

 Margined Whales are very fine, flexible, and long, forming only a 

 thin series ; in the South Sea they ^are rather coarser ; but in the 

 North-west Coast much thicker and coarser, quite bristly, and much 

 more so towards the apex, and they are more erect and form a thicker 

 series, approaching in that character to the baleen of the Finners. 



The foUovring are the measurements of the samples of the different 

 kinds of "whale-fim," in the British Museum: — 



Oreenland. North-western. Southern. 



in. lin. in. lin. in. lin. 



Length of blade, entire .... 144 112 90 



Width at base 11 10 9 



Width at middle 60 40 36 



Width at f length 24 20 



Width of hair at end 10 7 7 



Thickness at base 44 45 3|- 



Thickness at middle 44 04i 02A 



Thickness at f length 2^ 3^ 2 



The Greenland "fin, " has the hair on its edge generally stripped 

 off, and is clean and bright when it is brought to England ; but this 

 may be from the care the North-Sea whalers take in collecting and 

 cleaning it (as described by Scoresby, Arctic Regions, i. 418) ; and 

 the blades are brought home in bundles of about a hundredweight 

 each. On the other hand, the North-west Coast "fim, " and the South- 

 Sea "fim " have the hair left on the edges ; they are brought home in 

 bulk, and are always covered with an ashy- white soft laminar coat, 

 looking like the rotted external layers of the enamel. This coat has 

 to be scraped off with large knives before it is used or prepared, and 

 the surface after the scraping is not so polished and resplendent as 

 that of the Greenland "fins." 



The whalebone is boiled for about twelve hours, to render it soft 

 before it is divided into strips; it then divides veiy easily. The 



