ON THE GREENLAND WHALE. 581 



less rapidity ; if the motion is slow, the tail cuts 

 the water obliquely, like forcing a boat forward 

 by the operation of skulling j but if the motion is 

 Very rapid, it is effected by an undulating motion 

 of the rump. 



The skin in some whales is smooth and shining ; 

 in others, it is furrowed, like the water-lines in 

 laid paper, but coarser. 



The colour is black, grey, and white, and a 

 tinge of yellow about the lower parts of the head. 

 The back, upper part of the head, most of the 

 belly, the fins, tail, and part of the under jaw, are 

 deep black. The forepart of the under jaw, and a 

 little of the belly, are white, and the junction of the 

 tail with the body grey. Such are the common co- 

 lours of the adult whale. I have seen piebald whales. 

 Such whales as are below size, are almost entirely 

 of a bluish -black colour. The skin of suckers is 

 of a pale bluish colour. The cuticle, or scarf-skin, 

 is no thicker than parchment ; the true skin is 

 from three-fourths to an inch in thickness all over 

 the body. 



Immediately beneath the skin lies the blubber, 

 or fat, from 10 to 20 inches in thickness, varying 

 in different parts of the body, as well as in diffe- 

 rent individuals. The colour, also, is not always 

 the same, being white, red, and yellow ; and it 

 also varies in denscness. It is principally for the 

 blubber that the Greenland fishery is carried on. 

 It is cut from the body in large lumps, and carried 



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