ON THE GREENLAND WHALE. 



583 



The blubber of a sucker, when very young, 

 frequently contains little or no oil, but only a kind 

 of milky fluid ; in which case, when the animal 

 is deprived of life, the body sinks to the bottom, 

 as also does the blubber when separated from it ; 

 while the body and blubber of larger individuals, 

 always swim.- Though the preceding statement 

 be exceedingly near the truth, yet exceptions oc- 

 cur ; for I have known a whale of 2~ feet bone 

 produce 10 tons of oil, and one of 12 feet bone 

 estimated at only 9 tons ; such instances are much 

 rarer than to see one of 2± feet bone produce 4 of 

 5 tons of oil. 



The flesh of the young whale is of a fine red 

 colour ; that of the old approaches to black, and 

 is coarse, like that of a bull, and is said to be dry 

 and lean when boiled, because there is but little 

 fat intermixedt with the flesh :~ 



The following are the dimensions of two diffe- 

 rent whales, taken with, accuracy* 



Ft. Inch, 



First. The longest laminae of whalebone, 10 10 



Full length, - - 51 



Length of the head, - 16 



/ Diameter -of the body, - 6 



Behind the fins, - 9 or 10 



Length of the fin, - y 



Breadth, * 4 



Breadth of the tail, - 9.0 



004 



