148 
GREENLAND VOYAGE. 
CHATTER VI. 
'•*[ ski trtiW :.v; tfoiiw y,i 
A SMALL WHAlE CAl’TURED.-REMARKS ON ITS ANATO¬ 
MICAL STRUCTURE.-ITS DLOW-IIOLE VALVES.—-ITS 
WEIGHT. - ITS PHYSIOLOGY.- FOGGY WEATHER- 
CAUSE OF ARCTIC FOGS.-BEAUTIFUL AND SINGULAR 
EXAMPLES OF THE OPTICAL EFFECTS OF UNEQUAL 
REFRACTION.-REMARKS ON THE CAUSE OF THESE 
PHENOMENA. 
V"ery early oil Monday morning (15th July), a 
small whale, the first of the species that had been 
seen for nearly a week, made its appearance very near 
the ship. Two boats were dropped immediately, 
and the fish was harpooned and captured. Though 
it was little above the age and length of a “ suck¬ 
er,” the whalebone only measuring 2 feet 8 inches, 
it was so extremely fat, that we obtained a quan¬ 
tity of blubber from it, calculated to yield six tuns 
of oil; a produce equal to-that of “ a size-fish” of 
6 or 7 feet bone. 
As the whale is flensed while afloat, with nearly 
the whole of the carcass under water, few opportu¬ 
nities of examining its anatomical structure occur. 
The smallest animals of the species, mere cubs or 
