372 



ACCOUNT OF A BELUGA 



Mr Bald proceeds to mention that he had pur- 

 chased the specimen, and that it was on the way for 

 Professor Jameson. It accordingly arrived at Leith 

 by the Alloa Packet on the afternoon of the 7th. 

 The absence of a dorsal fin, at once proved the animal 

 to be (what Mr Bald's description led us to suspect) 

 the Beluga of naturalists. 



Great praise is due to Mr Bald, for his ready at- 

 tention to the interests of natural history on this 

 occasion. In a letter of the 9th, he says, " I am 

 highly gratified to find, that the beluga I sent is so 

 rare. It was most fortunate I went direct to Stir- 

 ling ; for had I put off but two hours longer, it 

 would either have been off to Glasgow, or cut to 

 mince-meat for a soap-work adjoining where it 

 lay." 



In still a subsequent letter Mr Bald informs me, 

 that the animal generally passed upwards when the 

 tide was flowing, and returned down the frith with 

 the ebb : this sometimes happened every day, and 

 sometimes once in the two or three days : it came 

 frequently to the surface, and was well known for 

 about three months by the name of the White 

 Whale. It was supposed to run up the river in 

 pursuit of salmon, and it was at last killed by the 

 salmon-fishers near the Abbey of Cambusken- 

 neth. 



The animal had been attacked both with fire- 

 arms and spears. A musket ball had entered the 



