410 THE WHALE. 
that I had not acted from mere vindictive feeling : — confessed 
their guilt, but attributed their untimely end, and indeed the 
origin of the whole to the mate alone," 
The conduct of this brave Scot, in his singularly critical 
situation, has been, and will be variously judged of: though 
all attempts to ruin him, by false p^d absurd insinuations, so 
completely failed that all the quarters, and parties capable of 
forming a just opinion of the whole case, justified his conduct 
by the strongest expressions of unqualified approbation, and 
by the most liberal rewards. While the man, (we state the 
fact and leave it,) who sunk under the mere apprehension in 
the awful moments of the inn.ending danger, had afterward 
so great a dread of public opinion — so keen a sense of shame 
— so little regard for the dictates of religion, for himself, and 
for his wife and children, as almost immediately to blow out 
his own brains. 
THE WHALE. 
Among the cetaceous tribes, the chief place is due to the 
v^hale, of all animals " mightiest that swim the ocean stream." 
Enormous as his bulk is, rumor and the love of the marvel- 
lous have represented it as being at one time much greater, 
and the existing race as only the degenerate remnant of 
mightier ancestors. Mr. Scoresby, however, by collecting 
various good authorities, has proved that sixty feet was always 
nearly the utmost length of the mysticetus, or great Greenland 
whale. Of 332 individuals, in the capture of which that gen- 
tleman was concerned, none occurred of a length exceeding 
58 feet ; and he gives no credence to any rumor of a speci- 
men Avhich exceeded 70 feet. Even 60 feet implies a weight 
of 70 tons, being nearly that of three hundred fat oxen. Of 
this vast mass, the oil in a rich whale composes about thirty 
tons ; and when, as was the case some years ago, that arti- 
cle brought 55Z. or 60Z. per ton, we may form some idea of 
the great value of the capture ; the bones of the head, fins, 
and tail, weigh 8 or 10; the carcass, 30 or 32 tons. The 
oleaginous substance, or blubber, the most valuable part of 
the animal, forms a complete wrapper round the whole body, 
of the thickness of from 8 to 2(J inches. The head is dispro- 
portionally large, forming about a third of the entire bulk. 
