422 ZOOLOGY. 
in the Greenland seas, Davis’s Straits west of Spitzbergen, Iceland, and 
Norway, on the coast of Labrador, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and round 
Newfoundland, by the bays of Baffin and Hudson, and in the sea north 
of Behring’s Straits. It is also found among the Philippine Islands, near 
Socotora (coast of Arabia Felix), and on the coast of Ceylon. It likewise 
frequents the Chinese seas. Formerly the whales were abundant about 
Spitzbergen and the Island of Jan Mayen. But since so many whaling 
vessels have appeared in those places, these animals have left their shores 
and have retired to the open ocean, where their catching is more expensive, 
difficult, and dangerous, and less productive. It is by no means improbable, 
however, that several species will hereafter be found to have been con- 
founded within the above limits. Thus there is pretty good evidence for 
supposing that the right whale of the Arctic Ocean of America west of 
Point Barrow, is different from that of Hudson’s Bay. 
It appears from the testimony of ancient naturalists, that the whales 
advanced more southwards in the ocean than at present, the numerous 
vessels traversing the ocean having caused them to retire to more northern 
regions, where they enjoy a more tranquil life, and are less exposed to 
destruction. Man, however, has found out their favorite haunts, and yearly 
spends a season on those fishing grounds, and exposes himself to numerous 
dangers for the purpose of capturing them. Dewhurst, in his natural history 
of the cetaceans, states that the black whale comes from the south polar 
seas in May to bring forth its offspring; remains in the bays of New 
Holland, Africa, and South America, till August, and on the coasts till 
November, when it returns in a southwesterly direction. 
According to ancient records, the whales captured at the earlier periods 
of the fishery were larger than those known at the present day. The 
Greenland whale is, however, said still to reach sixty to seventy feet in 
length. The greatest circumference measures thirty to forty feet; the 
length of the tail five to six feet; the width eighteen to twenty-six feet; 
and the weight of the whole animal about 200,000 pounds. The layer of 
fat under the skin is ten to twenty inches thick. The lips are almost 
entirely composed of fat, and yield alone one or two tuns of oil. Generally 
a large whale gives one hundred and twenty tons of lard, from which thirty 
tuns of oil are obtained. 
When a whaling vessel arrives on one of the above mentioned fishing 
grounds, the first thing is to set up the so-called crow’s nest or watch-house. 
This crow’s nest consists of an old barrel, open above, and which is 
fastened vertically to the top-gallant mast. One man of the crew, relieved 
at intervals, stands in it, and keeps watch for the appearance of whales in 
the vicinity of the vessel. It is often a very dangerous post for the one 
who takes it; for, besides the intense cold which reigns in those regions, 
the winds are sometimes so powerful, that the sailor in the crow’s nest runs 
the risk of being thrown out of it. 
The appearance of a whale in the neighborhood is indicated by the 
columns of water ascending from its nostrils into the air, when the animal 
comes near the surface of the ocean to breathe, and which are visible from 
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