THE WHITE WHALE 
125 
He swims in herds; he is never regularly hunted, though his oil is 
considerable in quantity, and pretty good for light. By some fishermen 
his approach is regarded as premonitory of the advance of the great 
sperm whale. 
BOOK II. {Octavo), Chapter II. (Black Fish ). — I give the popu- 
lar fisherman’s names for all these fish, for generally they are the best. 
Where any name happens to be vague or inexpressive, I shall say so, 
and suggest another. I do so now, touching the Black Kish, so called, 
because blackness is the rule among almost all whales. So, call him the 
Hyena Whale, if you please. His voracity is well known, and from 
the circumstances that the inner angles of his lips are curved upwards, 
he carries an everlasting Mephistophelean grin on his face. This whale 
averages some sixteen or eighteen feet in length. He is found in almost 
all latitudes. He has a peculiar way of showing his dorsal hooked fin 
in swimming, which looks something like a Roman nose. When not 
more profitably employed, the sperm whale hunters sometimes capture 
the Hyena whale, to keep up the supply of cheap oil for domestic 
employment — as some frugal housekeepers, in the absence of company, 
and quite alone by themselves, burn unsavoury tallow instead of odorous 
wax. Though their blubber is very thin, some of these whales will yield 
you upwards of thirty gallons of oil. 
BOOK II. (Octavo), Chapter III. (Narwhal), that is, Nostril 
whale . — Another instance of a curiously named whale, so named I sup- 
pose from his peculiar horn being originally mistaken for a peaked nose. 
The creature is some sixteen feet in length, while its horn averages five 
feet, though some exceed ten, and even attain to fifteen feet. Strictly 
speaking, this horn is but a lengthened tusk, growing out from the jaw 
in a line a little depressed from the horizontal. But it is only found 
on the sinister side, which has an ill effect, giving its owner something 
analogous to the aspect of a clumsy left-handed man. What precise 
purpose this ivory horn or lance answers, it would be hard to say. It 
does not seem to be used like the blade of the sword-fish and bill-fish ; 
though some sailors tell me that the Harwhal employs it for a rake in 
turning over the bottom of the sea for food. Charley Coffin said it was 
used for an ice-piercer; for the Harwhal, rising to the surface of the 
Polar Sea, and finding it sheeted with ice, thrusts his horn up, and so 
