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WASHINGTON,  D. C.
GPO  16—67244-1 
 
 
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          182B 
 
AMERICAN
NATURAL  HISTORY.
VOLUME III.
PART L—MASTOLOGY.
                    <> ■,
**%
      BY JOHN D. GODMAN, M.D.
               «Mfc
PROFESSOIt OF NATURAL HISTORY IN THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE OF PENN-
 SYLVANIA; ONE OF THE FBOFESSOBS OF THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM;
 MEMBER OF THE AMEBICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETT; OF THE PHILADEL-
 PHIA ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, &C.
       PHILADELPHIA:
CAREY, LEA & CAREY—CHESTNUT STREET.
i828. 
V.3
Eastern District of Pennsylvania, to wit:
  BE IT  REMEMBERED, That on the first day of February, in the
fifty-second year of the Independence of the United States of America,
A. D. 1828, P. H.  Nicklin, of the said district, hath deposited in this
office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in
the words following, to wit:
  " American Natural  History.  Vol. in. Part I.  Mastology. By John
D. Godman, M. D. Professor of Natural History in the Franklin Insti-
tute of Pennsylvania; one*of the Professors of the Philadelphia Mu-
seum; Member of the American  Philosophical Society; of the Phila-
delphia Academy of Natural Sciences, &c.
  In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States enti- -
tied,  " An act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the
copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and  proprietors of
such copies,  during the times therein mentioned."—And  also to the
act, entitled, " An act supplementary to an act,  entitled, " An act for
the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts,
and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the
times therein  mentioned," and  extending the benefits thereof to the
arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."
                                    D. CALDWELL,
                       Clerk of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
            AMERICAN

NATURAL HISTORY.
              CHAPTER I.

             Genus Ox; Bos; L.
              Fr. Boeuf. Germ. Ochs.
              Sp. Buly.  Ital. Bove.

            GENERIC CHARACTERS.

  The head is  large,  having a straight outline;
large, ears and  eyes; a large muzzle  and  long
smooth tongue.   The subocular sinuses do not ex-
ist.   The body is of large size, supported upon
strong legs.  A fold of skin depends below the neck,
called the dewlap.  The tail is frequently long and
terminates in a brush; in some species it is of a mid-
dling length.  The horns are conical, smooth and
simple, variously curved, though often turned late-
rally with the points upwards.
               Dental System.
             12 Upper j 12 Molar

       f" 8 Incisive
20 Lower<
12 Molar. 
4
THE BISON.
             Species I.—The Bison.

               Bos Americanus Gmel.
 Taurus Mexicanus: Hernand. Mex.  587.   Tauri Vaccaque, Ibid.
  Anim. p. 10.
 The Buffalo: Catesbt, Carol. 28 tab. 20.
 Bceuf Sauvage.- Dupbatz, Louisiane, ii. 66.
 American Bull: Penn. Quad. pi. ii, fig. 2.

           [Commonly called Buffaloe.']

   From other species of  the ox kind,  the Bison is
 well distinguished by the following peculiarities.
 A long shaggy hair clothes the fore part of the body,
 forming a well marked beard beneath the lower jaw,
 and descending behind the knee in a tuft.  This hair
 rises on the top of the head in a dense mass, nearly
 as high as the extremities of the  horns.  Over the
 forehead it is  closely curled, and  matted so thickly
 as to deaden the force of a rifle ball, which either
 rebounds, or lodges in the hair, merely causing the
 animal  to  shake his  head as he heavily bounds
along.
  The head of  the bison is large and ponderous,
compared with the size of the body; so that the mus-
cles  for its support, necessarily of great size, give
great thickness to the neck, and by their origin from
the prolonged dorsal vertebral processes form the
peculiar  projection called the hump.   This hump
is of an oblong form diminishing in height as it re-
cedes, so as  to give considerable obliquity to the
line  of the  back. 
1T? 
FfUP  liTOrtW 
C  A*



! 
 
THE BISON.
5
   The eye of the bison is small, black, and  bril-
liant; the horns are black and very thick near the
head, whence they curve upwards and  outwards,
rapidly tapering towards their points.  The outline
of the face is somewhat convexly curved, and the
upper lip, on each side being papillous within, di-
lates and extends downwards, giving a very oblique
appearance to the lateral gape of the mouth, in this
particular resembling the ancient architectural bas-
reliefs representing the heads of oxen.
  The physiognomy of the bison is menacing and
ferocious, and no one can see this  formidable ani-
mal in his native wilds, for the first time,  without
feeling inclined to attend immediately to his person-
al safety.  The summer  coat of the bison differs
from his winter dress, rather by difference of length
than by other particulars.  In  summer, from the
shoulders backwards, the hinder parts of the ani-
mal are all covered with a very short fine hair, that
is as  smooth and as soft to the touch as  velvet.
The tail is quite short and tufted at  the end, and
its utility as a fly-brush is necessarily very limited.
The colour of the hair is uniformly  dun,  but the
long hair on  the anterior parts of the body  is to a
certain extent tinged with yellowish or rust colour.
These animals, however, present so little variety in
regard to colour,  that the natives consider  any re-
markable difference from the  common appearance
as resulting from the  immediate interference of the
Great Spirit. 
6
THE BISON.
   Some varieties of colour have  been observed,
 although the instances are rare. A Missouri trader
 informed the members of Long's exploring party,
 that he had seen a greyish white bison, and a year-
 ling calf, that was distinguished  by several  white
 spots on the side, a star or blaze in  the forehead,
 and white  fore  feet.   Mr. J. Doughty, an  inter-
 preter to the  expedition, saw  in  au  Indian hut a
 very well  prepared  bison head with a star on the"
 front. . ♦This was  highly prized by the proprietor,
 who called it his great medicine, for,  said he " the
 herds come every season to the vicinity to seek their
 white faced companion."
   In appearance the bison cow bears the same re-
 lation to the bull, that is borne by the domestic cow
 to her mate.  Her size is much smaller,  and she
 has much less hair on the fore part  of her body.
 The horns of the cow are much less  than those of
 the bull, nor are they so  much concealed by the
 hair.  The cow  is by no  means destitute of beard,
 but though  she possesses this conspicuous appen-
 dage, it is quite  short when compared with that of
 her companion.
   From July to  the latter part of December the bi-
 son cow continues fat.   Their breeding  season be-
gins towards the latter part of July and continues
until the beginning of September, and after this
month the cows  separate  from the bulls in distinct
herds and bring  forth their calves in April.   The
calves rarely separate  from the mother before they 
THE BISON.
7
are one year old, and cows are frequently seen ac-
companied by calves of three seasons.
  The flesh of the bison is somewhat coarser in its
fibre than  that of the domestic ox, yet travellers are
unanimous in considering it equally  savoury as an
article of food, we must, however, receive the opin-
ions  of travellers on this subject, with some  allow-
ance for their peculiar situations, being frequently
at a  distance from all other  food and having their
relish improved by the best  of all possible recom-
mendations in favour of the present viands—hunger.
It is  with  reason, however, that the flesh is stated to
be more  agreeably sapid, as the grass upon which
these animals feed is short, firm and  nutritious, be-
ing very different from the luxuriant and less  sa-
line  grass produced on a more fertile  soil.  The fat
of the bison is said to be far sweeter and richer, and
generally preferable to that of the common ox. The
observations made in  relation to  the bison's flesh,
when compared with the flesh of the domestic  ox,
may be extended  to almost all wild meat,  which
has a peculiar flavour and raciness that renders it
decidedly more agreeable than that of tame animals,
although  the texture of the flesh  may be   much
coarser and the fibre by no means as delicate.
  Of all  the parts of the bison that are eaten,  the
hump is the most famed for its peculiar richness and
delicacy; because when cooked it is said very much
to resemble marrow. * The Indian mode of cooking
the hump  is to cut it out from  the vertebrae, after 
 8                 THE BISON.
 which the spines of bone are taken out, the denuded
 portion is then covered with  skin, which is finally
 sewed to the skin covering the hump.  The hair is
 then singed  and pulled off, and the whole mass is
 put in a hole dug in the earth for its reception, which
 has been previously heated by a  strong fire in and
 over it the evening previous to the day on which it
 is to be eaten.   It is then covered with cinders and
 earth about a foot deep, and a strong fire made over
 it.  By the next day at noon it is  fit for use.  The
 tongues and marrow bones are also  highly esteem-
 ed by the hunters.   To preserve the flesh for future
 use the hunters and Indians cut  it into thin slices
 and dry it in the open air, which  is called Jerking;
 this process  is speedily finished, and a large  stock
 of meat may thus be kept for a considerable length
 of time.
  From the dried flesh of the bison the fur traders
 of the north west prepare a food which is very valua- «
ble on account of the time it may be preserved with-
 out spoiling, though it will not appear very alluring
to those who reside where provisions are  obtained
without difficulty. The dried bison's flesh is placed
on skins and pounded with stones until sufficient- «
ly pulverized. It is then separated as much as pos-
 sible from impurities, and one third of its weight of
the melted tallow of the animal is poured over it.
This substance is called pemmican, and being pack-
 ed firmly in bags of skin of a convenient size for
 transportation, may be  kept  for  one year without 
THE BISON.
9
much difficulty, and with great care, perhaps two
years.
  During the months of August and September the
flesh of the bison bull is poor  and disagreeably fla-
voured; they are however much more easily killed,
as they are not so vigilant as the cows, and some-
times allow the hunter to come up with them with-
out much difficulty. Lewis & Clarke relate that once
approaching a large herd, the bulls would  scarcely
move out of their way and as they came near, the ani-
mals would merely look at them for a moment, as at
something new, and then quietly resume their graz-
ing.
   The general appearance of the bison  is by no
means attractive  or prepossessing, his huge  and
shapeless form, being altogether devoid of grace and
beauty.  His  gait is awkward and cumbrous,  al-
though his great strength enables him to run with
very considerable speed over plains in summer, or in
winter to plunge expeditiously through the snow.
   The sense of smelling is remarkably acute in this
animal, and it is remarked by hunters that the odour
of the  white man is  far more terrifying to them than
that of the Indian.  From the neighbourhood of
white  settlements they speedily disappear:  this,
however, is very  justly accounted for by  Mr. Say,
who attributes it  to the impolitic and exterminating
warfare, which the white man wages against all un-
subdued animals within his reach.
   As  an exemplification of the peculiar strength of
   y0L. in.---2 
10
THE
BISON.
 their sense of smelling, we may here relate a circum-
 stance mentioned by Mr. Say, in that valuable and
 highly interesting work, Long's Expedition to the
 Rocky Mountains, to which we  are under continual
 obligations.  These we are the more happy to ac-
 knowledge, because we are well acquainted with
 the  solicitude of the gentlemen  composing that ex-
 pedition, to diffuse, as widely as  possible, the know-
 ledge of American Natural History.
   The exploring party were riding through a drea-
 ry  and uninteresting country, which at that time
 was enlivened by vast numbers of bisons, who were
 moving,  in countless thousands, in every direction.
 As the wind was blowing fresh  from the south, the
 scent of the party was  wafted  directly across the
 river Platte, and through a  distance of eight  or ten
 miles, every step of its progress was distinctly mark-
 ed by the terror and consternation it produced among
the bisons. The instant their atmosphere was infected
by the tainted gale, they ran as violently as if closely
pursued by mounted hunters, and instead of fleeing
from the danger, they turned  their heads towards the
 wind, eager to escape this terrifying odour.  They
dashed obliquely forward towards  the  party, and
plunging into the river,  swam, waded,  and ran with
headlong violence,  in  several instances breaking
through the Expedition's line of  march,  which was
immediately along the left branch of the Platte.  One
of the party, (Mr. Say himself,) perceiving from the
direction  taken by the  bull  who led the extended 
THE BISON.
11
column, that he would emerge from the low river
bottom at a point where the  precipitous bank was
deeply worn by  much travelling,  urged his horse
rapidly forward, that he might reach this station in
order to gain a nearer view of these interesting ani-
mals.  He had but just reached the spot when the
formidable leader, bounding up the steep, gained the
summit of the bank with his fore-feet, and in this
position, suddenly halted from his full career, and
fiercely glared at the horse which stood full in his
path.  The horse was panic-struck by this  sudden
apparition, trembled violently from fear, and would
have wheeled and taken to flight, had not his rider
exerted his utmost  strength  to restrain him; he re-
coiled, however, a few  feet  and  sunk down upon
his haras.  The bison  halted  for a  moment, but
urged forward  by  the  irresistible pressure of the
moving column  behind, he rushed onward by the
half-sitting horse.   The herd then came swiftly on,
crowding up the narrow defile.  The party had now
reached the spot, and extended along a considerable
distance; the bisons ran in a confused manner, in va-
rious directions, to gain the distant bluffs, and num-
bers were compelled to pass through the line of march.
This scene, added  to the plunging and roaring of
those who were yet crossing the river, produced a
grand effect, that was heightened by the fire opened
on them by the hunters.
   To the Indians and visiters of the western regions
the bison is almost  invaluable;  we have mentioned 
12
THE BISON.
 that they supply a large part of the food used  by
 the  natives,  and covering to their tents  and per-
 sons, while in many parts of the country there is
 no fuel to be obtained but the  dried dung of this
 animal.   The  Indians always associate ideas of
 enjoyment with  plenty  of bison,  and they  fre-
 quently constitute the skull of one  of them, their
 "Great Medicine."  They have dances and cere-
 monies that are  observed previous to the com-
 mencement of their hunting.
   The herds of bison wander over the country in
 search of food, usually led by a bull most remarka-
 ble for strength  and fierceness.  While feeding,
 they are often scattered over a great extent of coun-
 try, but when they move in mass they form a dense
 almost impenetrable column,  which, once  in mo-
 tion, is scarcely to be impeded.  Their line of march
 is seldom interrupted even by  considerable rivers,
 across  which they swim  without fear or hesitation,
nearly  in the order that they traverse the plains.
When  flying before their  pursuers, it would be  in
vain for the foremost to halt,  or attempt to obstruct
the progress of the main body, as the throng in  the
rear  still  rushing onward, the  leaders must  ad-
vance,  although destruction awaits  the movement.
The Indians take advantage of this circumstance to
destroy great quantities of this favourite game, and,
certainly, no  mode could be resorted to more effec-
tually destructive, nor could a more terrible devasta-
tion  be produced, than that of forcing a numerous 
THE BISON.
r3
herd of these  large  animals, to leap together from
the brink of a dreadful precipice, upon a rocky and
broken surface, a hundred feet below.
   When the Indians determine to destroy bison in
this way, one of their swiftest footed and most active
young men is  selected, who is disguised  in a bison
skin, having the head, ears, and horns adjusted on
his own head, so  as to  make the  deception  very
complete, and thus accoutred,  he stations himself
between the bison herd and some of the precipices,
that often extend for several miles along the rivers.
The Indians surround the herd  as  nearly as possi-
ble, when, at a given signal, they show themselves
and  rush  forward  with loud yells.  The animals
being alarmed, and  seeing no way open but in the
 direction of the disguised Indian, run towards him,
 and  he, taking to  flight,  dashes on to the precipice,
 where he suddenly secures himself in some previous-
 ly ascertained crevice.  The foremost of the herd
 arrives at the brink—there is no possibility of retreat,
 no chance of escape; the foremost may for an instant
 shrink with terror,  but the crowd behind, who are
 terrified by the approaching hunters, rush  forward
 with increasing  impetuosity,  and  the  aggregated
 force hurls them succesively into the gulf, where
 certain death awaits them.
    It is extremely  fortunate that this  sanguinary
 and wasteful method of killing bisons is not very
 frequently resorted to by the savages, or we might
 expect these animals in a few years to become al- 
i I
THE 151 SON.
  most entirely extinct.   The waste is not the only
  unpleasant  circumstance consequent on it; the air
  for a  long  time after, is  filled with the  horrible
  stench  arising from  the  putrefying  carcases not
  consumed by  the Indians after  such an extensive
  and indiscriminate  slaughter.  For a very consi-
  derable time after  such an event, the wolves and
  vultures feast sumptuously and  fatten to tameness
  on the disgusting remains,  becoming so gentle and
  fearless, as  to allow themselves  to  be  approached
  by the human species, and even to be knocked down
 with a stick, near  places where  such sacrifices of
 bison have been made.   Lewis & Clarke bestowed
 the name of Slaughter River on one of the tributa-
 ries of the Mississippi, in consequence of the preci-
 pices along its sides, having been used  by  the In-
 dians for this mode of killing the bison.
   A better and more common way of killing bison
 is that of attacking  them on horseback.   The In-
 dians, mounted and  well armed with bows and ar-
 rows, encircle the herd  and  gradually drive them
 into  a situation favourable  to the employment of
 the horse.  They then ride  in and  single out one,
 generally a female, and following her as  closely as
 possible, wound her with arrows until the mortal
blow is given, when  they go in  pursuit  of  others
until their quivers are exhausted.  Should a wound-
ed bison attack the hunter, he escapes by the agility
of Lis horse, which is usually well trained  for the
Purpose.   In  some parts of the country, the hunter 
THE BISON.                15
is exposed to a considerable  danger of  falling, in
consequence of the numerous holes made in the
plains by the badger.
  When  the hunting  is ended  and a sufficiency of
game killed, the squaws come up from  the rear to
skin and dress the meat, a business in which they
have acquired a great degree of dexterity, as they
can, with very inferior instruments, butcher a bison
with far more celerity and precision than the  white
hunters.
   If a bison is found  dead, without an arrow in the
body, or any particular mark attached, it becomes
the  property of the finder, so that a hunter may ex-
pend his arrows to no purpose when they fall off,
after wounding or fairly  perforating the animal.
That the Indians do frequently send* their  arrows
through  the body  of this animal  is well attested
by  a great number of witnesses.   In  Long's ex-
 pedition  to the sources of St. Peters' river, it  is
 related that Wahnita, a distinguished chief  of the
 Sioux, has been seen to drive his arrow through the
 body of  one bison, and sufficiently deep into the
 body of a second to inflict a deadly wound.
   When the ice is breaking up on the rivers in the
 spring of the year, the dry grass of the  surrounding
 plains is set on fire, and the bison are tempted to
 cross the river in search of the young grass that im-
 mediately succeeds the burning of the old.   In the
 attempt to cross,  the bison  is  often insulated on a
 large cake of ice  that floats down  the river.  The 
16                THE RIS0N.
  savages select the most favourable points for attack,
  and as the bison approaches, the Indians leap with
  wonderful agility over the frozen ice, to attack him,
  and as the animal  is necessarily unsteady, and his
  footing very insecure on the ice, he soon receives
  his death  wound and is drawn triumphantly to the
  shore.
    The Cree Indians make a bison-pound, by fenc-
 ing a circular space of about a hundred yards in
 diameter.   The  entrance is banked up with snow
 sufficiently high  to  prevent the animals  from re-
 treating after they  have once entered.  For about
 a mile on each side of the road leading to the pound,
 stakes are  driven into the ground at nearly equal
 distances of about twenty yards, which are intend-
 ed  to look  like men, and to deter the  animals from
 endeavouring to break through  the fence.  Within
 fifty or  sixty yards  of the pound, branches of trees
 are placed  between the stakes to screen the Indians
 who lie down behind them, to wait for the approach
 of  the bison.   The mounted hunters display the
 greatest dexterity in this sort of chase, as they are
 obliged to manoeuvre around the herd in the plains
 so  as to urge them into  the road-way, which is
 about a quarter of a mile broad.   When this is ef-
fected, the  Indians raise loud shouts, and  pressing
closely on the animals, terrify them  so much, that
they rush heedlessly forwards towards the snare.
When they have advanced as far as the men who
are  lying in ambush, they also show themselves in- 
THE BISON.
17
creasing the consternation of the bison by shouting
violently  and firing their  guns. . The  affrighted
animals  have no alternative but to rush directly
into the pound, where they are quickly despatched
by guns or arrows.   In the  centre of one of  these
pounds, there was a tree on which the Indians had
hung strips of bison flesh  and pieces of cloth, as
tributary or grateful offerings  to the Great Master
of life,.   They occasionally place a man in the tree
to sing to the presiding spirit as the bisons advance.
He is obliged to remain there  until  all the animals
that have entered the pound are  killed.*
  The Omawhaw Indians hunt the bison in the fol-
lowing manner.   The  hunters who are in advance
of the main body on the march, employ telegraphic
signals  from an elevated  position,  to  convey a
knowledge of their discoveries  to the people.  If
they see bisons, they throw' up their robes in a pe-
culiar manner as a  signal for a halt.  The hunters
then return as speedily as possible to camp, and are
received with some ceremony on  their approach.
The chiefs and  magicians are seated in front of the
people, puffing smoke from their pipes, and  thank-
ing  the  Master of life with  such expressions as
" thanks Master of life, thank you Master of life,
here is smoke, I am poor, hungry, and want to eat."
The hunters then draw near  the chiefs  and magi-
cians, and in a low tone of voice inform  them of
          * See Franklin's Exp. p. 112.
Vol. III.---3 
18
THE BISON.
 their discovery; when questioned as to the number,
 they reply by holding up some  small  sticks in a
 horizontal direction, and compare one  herd at a
 certain distance with  this stick, and another with
 that, &c.
   An old man or crier then harangues  the people,
 informing them of the company, exhorting the wo-
 men to keep a good  heart, telling  them that they
 have endured many hardships with fortitude, and
 that their present difficulties are ended, as on the
 morrow the men will go in pursuit of the bisons and
 bring them certainly a plenty of meat.
   Four or five resolute warriors are appointed at
 the council of chiefs, held the evening previous, to
 preserve order among the  hunters on the following
 day.  It is their  business, with a whip  or club, to
 punish those who misbehave, on the spot, or whose
 movements tend to frighten the game before all are
 ready, or previously  to their arrival at the  place
 whence they are to sally forth.
   The next morning all the men, not superannuated,
 depart at an early hour,  generally mounted and
 armed  with bows  and  arrows.   The superintend-
 ants  or officers above mentioned  accompany the
 swiftly moving cavalcade,  on foot, armed with war
clubs, the whole preceded by a footman bearing a
pipe.   When  they come in sight of the herd the
hunters talk kindly to their horses, using  the en-
 dearing names of father, brother, uncle, &c, beg-
S«ng them not to  fear  the  bisons, but to run well 
THE BISON.                19
and keep close, taking care at the same time not to
be gored by them.
  Having approached the herd as closely as they
suppose the  animal will permit without alarm, they
halt, that the pipe bearer may perform the cere-
mony of smoking, which is thought  necessary to
success. The pipe is lighted, and he remains a short
time with his  head inclined,  and the stem of the
pipe extended towards the herd. He then puffs the
smoke towards the bisons,  the heavens, the  earth,
and the cardinal points successively.  These latter
are distinguished by the terms sun-rise,  sun-set,
cold country, and warm country.
   This ceremony ended, the chief gives the order
for starting.  They  immediately separate into two
bands, which  wheeling to  the right and left, make
a considerable circuit with a view to enclose the herd
at a considerable interval between them.  They then
close upon  the animals and every man endeavours
to signalize himself by the  number he can kill.
   It is now that the Indian exhibits all his skill in
horsemanship and  archery, and  when the horse is
going at full speed, the arrow is sent with a deadly
 aim and great velocity into the body of the animal
behind the shoulder, where, should it not bury itself
to a sufficient  depth, he rides  up and  withdraws it
from the  side of the wounded and furious animal.
 He judges by the direction  and depth of the wound,
 whether it be mortal, and when the deadly blow is
 inflicted, he  raises a triumphant sheut to prevent 
20
THE BISON.
  others from engaging in the pursuit, and dashes off
  to seek new objects for destruction, until his quiver
  is exhausted or the game has fled too far.
    Although there is an appearance of much confu-
  sion in this engagement, and the same  animal re-
  ceives many arrows from different archers before
  he is mortally wounded or despatched, yet as every
  man knows his own arrows, and can estimate the
 consequences of the wounds he has  inflicted, few
 quarrels ever  occur as to the right of property in
 the animal.  A fleet horse well trained, runs paral-
 lel with the bison at the proper  distance, with the
 reins thrown on his neck, turns as he turns, and does
 not lessen his speed until the shoulder of the animal
 is presented, and the mortal wound has been given;
 then  by inclining to one side the rider directs him
 towards another bison,  Such horses are preserved
 exclusively for the chase and are very rarely sub-
jected to the labour of carrying burdens.*
   The  effect of training, on the Indian horses, is
 well shown in a circumstance related by Lewis and
 Clarke.  A Serjeant had  been sent forward with a
 number of horses, and while en his way, came up
 with a herd of bisons.  As soon as the loose horses
discovered  the herd, they  immediately set off
pursuit, and  surrounded the bisons with almost
much skill as if they had been directed  by rid<
At length the sergeant was obliged to send two
  in
  as
lers.
men
y, Long's Exp. to Rocky Mountains, v. 2. 
THE BISON.
21
forward to drive the bisons from the route  before
they were able to proceed.
  The  skins  of  the  bison furnish the Indians
and  Whites with excellent robes, for bedding,
clothing, and  various purposes.  These are most
usually the skin of cows, as the hide of the bull is
too thick and heavy to be prepared in the way prac-
tised by the squaws, which is both difficult and te-
dious.  This consists in working the hide, moisten-
ed with the brains of the animal, between the hands,
until it is made perfectly  supple, or till the thick
texture of the skin is reduced  to a porous and cel-
lular substance.  These robes form an excellent pro-
tection from rain, when the woolly side is opposed
to it, and against the cold  when the woolly surface
is worn next the skin.   But when these robes are
wet, or for a considerable time exposed to moisture,
they are apt to spoil and become unpleasant, as the
Indian mode of dressing has no other effect than to
 give a softness and a pliancy to the leather. On these
 robes the Indians frequently make drawings of their
 great battles and victories; a great variety of such
 painted robes are to be  seen in the Philadelphia
 Museum.   The hair of the bison has been used in
 the manufacture of a coarse cloth, but this fabric
 has never been extensively employed.
   We have already adverted to the great  numbers
 of these animals which live together.  They have
 been seen in herds of three, four, and five thousand,
 blackening the  plains as far as the eye could view. 
22
THE BISON.
  Some travellers are of opinion that they have seen
  as many as eight or ten thousand in the same herd,
  but this is merely a conjecture.  At night it is im-
  possible for persons to sleep near them who are un-
  accustomed to their noise, which from the incessant
  lowing and roaring of the bulls, is said very much
  to  resemble  distant thunder.   Although frequent
  battles  take place between the bulls, as among do-
  mestic cattle, the  habits of the bison are peaceful
  and inoffensive,  seldom or never offering to attack
  man or other animals, unless outraged  in the  first
 instance. They sometimes, when wounded, turn on
 the aggressor, but  it is only in the rutting season
 that any danger is to be apprehended from the fe-
 rocity and strength of the bison bull.   At all other
 times,  whether wounded  or not, their efforts are
 exclusively directed towards effecting  their escape
 from their  pursuers,  and at this time  it  does  not
 appear that their rage is provoked particularly, by
 an attack on themselves, but their  unusual intre-
 pidity is indiscriminately directed against all sus-
 picious objects.
  We shall conclude this account of bison, by in-
 troducing the remarks of John E. Calhoun, Esq.,*
relative to the extent of country over which this
animal formerly roved and which it at present  in-
habits.
  •Long's Exp. to the source of the St. Peter's river, ii.
p. 28.                                         ' 
THE BISON.
23
  The buffaloe was formerly found throughout the
whole territory of the United States, with the ex-
ception of that part which lies east of Hudson's river
and Lake Champlain, and of narrow strips of coast
on the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. These were
swampy and had probably low thick woods.  That
it did not  exist on  the Atlantic coast is rendered
probable, from the  circumstance that all the  early
writers  whom Mr. Calhoun has  consulted on the
subject,  and they are numerous,  do  not mention
them as existing then, but further back.  Thomas
Morton, one of the first settlers of New England,
says, that the Indians " have also made description
of  great heards of well growne beasts, that live
about the parts of this lake,"  Erocoise, now Lake
Ontario, " such as the christian world, (untile this
discovery,) hath not  bin  made  acquainted with.
These beasts are of the bignesse of a  cowe, their
 flesh being  very good foode, their hides  good le-
 ther, their fleeces very useful, being a kind of wolle,
 as fine almost as the wolle of the beaver, and the
 salvages do make garments thereof;" he adds, "  It
 is tenne yeares since first the relation of these things
 came to the eares of the English."*  We have in-
 troduced this quotation, partly with a view to show
 that the fineness of the  buffalo  wool, which  has
 caused it within a few years, to become an object of
  * New English Canaan, by Thomas Morton, Amsterdam,
1637, p. 98. 
24
THE BISON.
  commerce, was  known as far back as  Morton's
  time; he compares  it with that of the beaver  and
  with some truth; we were shown lower down  on
  Red river, hats that appeared  to be of a very good
  quality; they had  been made in London  with  the
  wool of the buffaloe.  An acquaintance on the part
  of Europeans with the animal itself, can be referred
  to nearly a century before that:  forin 1532, Guzman
  met with buffalo in the province of Cinaloa.*   De
  Laet says, upon  the authority of  Gomara, when
  speaking of the buffalo in Quivira, that  they are
  almost  black, and seldom diversified  with white
  spots, f  ln his history written subsequently to 1684,
 Hubbard does not enumerate  this  animal among
 those of New England.   Purchas informs, us that
 m  1613  the adventurers discovered in Virginia " a
 slow kinde  of cattell as bigge as kine, which were
 good meate."*   From Lawson, we find that great
 plenty of buffaloes,  elks, &c, existed near  Cape
 *ear river and  its tributaries;*  and we know that
 some of  those who first settled the Abbeville dis
 trict in South Carolina, i„ l756, found the buffaloe
 Uiere.  De Soto's party, who traversed East Florida,
 Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansa Territory,
 and Louisiana, from 1539 to 1543, saw no buffaloe,

  *De Laet, America* utriusque Descriptio, Lugd. Batav
anno 1633, lib. 6. cap. 6.                   S
  t Idem, lib. 6, cap. 17.    t Purchas ut
  § Lawson ut supra, p. 48, 115 &c.            P 
THE BISON.
25
ijiey were told thaf the animal was north of them;
however, they frequently  met with buffalo hides,
particularly when west of the Mississippi;  and Du
Pratz, who  published in 1758, informs us that at
that time the animal did not exist in lower Louisiana.
We know however of one author, Bernard Romans,
who wrote in  1774, and who speaks of the buf-
falo as a benefit of nature bestowed upon Florida.
There can be no doubt that the animal approached
the Gulf of Mexico,  near the Bay of St. Bernard;
for Alvar Nunez,  about the year  1535,  saw them
not far from the coast; and Joater, one hundred and
fifty years afterwards, saw them at the Bay of St.
Bernard.  It is probable that this Bay is the lowest
point of latitude at  which  this animal has been
found east of the Rocky  Mountains.  There  can
be no doubt of their existence west of those moun-
tains, though Father  Venegas does not include them
among the animals of California, and although they
were not seen west of the mountains by Lewis  and
Clarke, nor mentioned by Harmon and Mackenzie
as existing in New Caledonia, a country of immense
extent, which is included between the Pacific Ocean,
the Rocky Mountains, the territory of the United
 States, and the Russian possessions, on the north-
 west coast of America. Yet their existence at present
 on the Columbia, appears to  be well ascertained,
 and we are told that there is a tradition among the
 natives, that shortly before the visit of our enter-
 prising explorers, destructive fires had raged  over
    Vol. III.----4 
26
THE BISON.
   the  prairies  and  driven  the buffalo  east of  the
   mountains.  Mr. Dougherty, the very  able  and
   intelligent  sub-agent, who accompanied the expe-
   dition to the Rocky Mountains, and who communi-
   cated so much valuable matter to Mr. Say, asserted
  that lie had seen a few of them in the mountains,
  but not  west of  them.  It is highly probable that
  the buffalo ranged on  the  western  side  of  the
  Rocky Mountains, to as low a latitude as  on  the
  eastern side.   De Laet  says, on  the  authority of
  Henera,  that they grazed as far south as the banks
  of the river  Yaquimi.*  In the  same chapter this
  author states, that Martin Perez had, in 1591, es-
 timated the province of Cinaloa, in which this river
 runs, to be three hundred leagues from the city  of
 Mexico.   This river is supposed to be the same,
 which, on Mr. Tanner's map of North America,
  Philadelphia, 1822,) is named Hiaqui,and situated
 between the  27th and 28th degrees of north lati-
 tude.  Perhaps, however, it  may be the Rio Gila.
 which empties itself in latitude 32°.  Although we
 may not be able to determine  with  precision, the
 southern limit of the roamings of the buffalo west
 of the mountains, the fact of their existence there in
 great abundance, is amply settled by the testimony
 of De Laet, on the authority of Gomara, 1 6 c 17
 and of Purchas n  *~«   t*  i- •*          '    ~'
            **' P* 778*  Its lin»its to the north are

gridedZ^^'1 flUmiDiS HpaS tauri —que et p«-
grantles cervi pascuntur," ul supra lib# fi cap  fi4    P * 
                    THE BISON.                 27
 not easier to determine.   In Hakluyts' collection
 we have an extract of a letter from Mr. Anthonie
 Parkhurst, in 15/8, in which he uses these words;
 in  the Island of Newfoundland  there " are mightie
 beastes, like to camels in greatnesse, and their feete
 cloven.   I did see them farre off, not  able to dis-
 cerne  them perfectly, but  their  steps shewed that
 their feete were cloven and bigger than the feete of
 camels.   I suppose them  to  be a kind of buffes,
 which I read to bee in the countrys adjacent and
 very many in the firme land,"*  In the same col-
 lection,  p. 689, we find,  in the account  of Sir
 Humphrey Gilbert's voyages, which  commenced in
 1583,  that there are said to be in Newfoundland,
 (i buttolfles, or a beast, it seemeth  by the tract and
 foote, very large in the manner of an  oxe."  It may,
 however, be questioned whether  these were not
 musk oxen, instead of the common buffalo or bison
 of our prairies. We have no authority of any weight,
 which  warrants us  in admitting that the buffalo
 existed north of Lakes Ontario, Erie, &c. and east
 of Lake Superior.  From what we know  of the
 country between  Nelson's  River,  Hudson's Bay,
 and the lower Lakes, including New South Wales
 and Upper Canada, we are inclined to believe that
the  bufi'alo never abounded there, if indeed any were
  * The principal navigations, voyages, and discoveries of
the English nation, &c. by Richard Hakluyt, London, 1589,
p. 676. 
28
THE BISON.
 ever found north of the lakes.  But west of Lake
 Winnepeck, we  know  that they are found as  far
 north as the 62nd degree of north latitude.  Capt.
 Franklin's party killed one on Salt river, about the
 60th degree.  Probably they are found all over the
 prairies which are bounded on the north by a line
 commencing at the point at which the 62nd degree
 meets the base of the Rocky Mountains, and running
 in a south easterly direction, to the southern extre-
 mity of Lake Winnepeck, which is but very little
 north of the 50th degree; on the Sardatchawan,
 buffalo  are very  abundant.   It may be proper to
 mention here, that the small white  buffalo, of which
 Mackenzie makes frequent mention, on the authority
 of the Indians, who told him that they lived in  the
 mountains, is probably not the bison; for Lewis and
 Clarke inform us, that the Indians  designated  by
 that name the mountain sheep.* It is probable that
 west of  the Rocky Mountains the buffalo does  not
 extend far north of the Columbia.  At present it is
 scarcely seen east of the Mississippi, and south of
 the St. Lawrence. Governor Cass's  party found in
 1819, buffalo on the east side of  the Mississippi,
 above the falls of St. Anthony: every year this ani-
mal's rovings are  restricted.   In 1822, the limit of
its wanderings down the St. Peter,  was Great Swan
 Lake (near Camp Crescent.)
* Vol. ii. p. 325. 
 

^ 
THE MUSK OX.
29
            Species II.—The Musk Ox.

                 Bos Moschatus Gmel.

    Musk Ox: Pewn. Quad. i. 31. Ibid, Arct. Zool. 3 vol. i. 8.
    Musk Ox.- Hearne, Journey &c. 8vo. 135.
    Baeuf Masque: Buff. Hist. Naturelle Suppl. vi.
    Ovibos* Musquf: Blainv. Nouv. Bullet, de la Soc. Philom.
    Musk Ox: Parry's Voyage, i. 202.

[Called Mathek-Mongsoo, or Ugly Moose, by the Crees,
           Uming Mak, by the Esquimaux.]

   To civilized  man,  the extreme northern regions
may appear cheerless  and uninviting,  because they
are  subjected  to  the   almost  unrelenting influ-
  * Mr. De Blainville proposed to establish a new genus, to
be called Ovibos or Sheep-ox, of which  the Musk-ox is the
first species.   His generic distinctions are drawn from the
resemblance between the outline of the front of the musk-ox
and  that of the sheep,  and from the absence of the muzzle or
smooth naked surface, between the nostrils, and upon the
upper lip.  This division, though as well-founded  a's that
which  separates Capra from Ovis, we conceive to be alto-
gether unnecessary, as the characters are not  more  than
sufficient to establish  a specific difference.  In regard to the
muzzle, nothing is said in the text of Parry's  work, though
it is  very distinctly represented in the plate, which is said to
be very  accurate, and which we have copied; as the com-
mon descriptions of the  musk-ox, have mostly been taken
from dried skins, it is possible, that the absence of the muz-
zle has been stated too hastily. 
 30               THE MUSK OX.
 ence  of wintry skies.  Yet we have already seen
 that they are the favourite resorts of multitudes of
 animals, varying in size, characters and habits, from
 the Lemming to the Moose.   A species remains to
 be described, which, of these forbidding regions
 prefers  the most barren and desolate parts, and is
 found in the greatest abundance in the  rugged and
 scarcely accessible districts lying nearest the North
 Pole. This species, so far from being condemned to a
 life of extreme privation and suffering,  appears  to
 derive as much enjoyment from existence, as those
 which feed in more  luxuriant pastures, or bask in
 the genial rays of a summer sun.
   In destining the musk ox to inhabit the domains
 of frost  and storm, nature has paid especial  atten-
 tion to its security against the effects of both; first,
 by covering its body with a coat of long, dense hair,
 and then, by the shortness of its limbs, avoiding the
 exposure that would result from a greater elevation
 of the trunk.   The projection of  the orbits of the
 eyes,  which is very remarkable in this species, is
thought by Parry to be intended to carry the eye
 clear of the large quantity of hair required to pre-
 serve  the warmth of the head.
   Although some few items  relative to  this animal
 are to be gathered from the works of the recent ex-
 plorers of the Northern  Regions, it is to Hearne,
 that we are  almost  exclusively  indebted for the
 Natural History of the musk ox, as we have already
 been for  that of most of the animals inhabiting the 
THE MUSK OX.
31
 same parts of this continent.  This excellent and
 accurate observer travelled, in the years '69, '70,71,
 and '72, and it is only to be  regretted that he did
 did not write down all he knew in relation to the
 northern animals.   He appears to  have frequently
 thought that what was so familiarly known to  him,
 would not be of much interest to others, and  has
 thus withheld knowledge that few  individuals  can
 have a similar opportunity of gaining.   Notwith-
 standing this, he has anticipated all the recent ex-
 plorers in every  essential observation.
   Hearne states that  he has seen  many herds  of
 musk oxen in the high northern latitudes, during a
 single  day's journey, and some of these herds  con-
 tained  from eighty  to a hundred  individuals, of
 which number a very small proportion were bulls,
 and it  was quite uncommon to see more than  two
 or three  full grown males, even with  the largest
 herds.   The Indians had a notion  that the males
 destroyed each other in combating for the females,
 and this  idea is somewhat supported by the warlike
 disposition manifested by these animals during their
 sexual season.   The bulls are then so jealous of
 every thing that approaches their favourites,  that
 they will not only attack men or quadrupeds, but
 will run  bellowing after ravens or other large birds
 that venture too  near the  cows.
  Musk oxen are found in the  greatest numbers
within  the  arctic circle; considerable herds are oc-
casionally  seen  near the coast of Hudson's bay, 
 33               THE MUSK OX.
 throughout the  distance  from Knapp's  Bay  to
 Wa°"er Water. They have  in a few instances been
 seen as low down as lat. 60°  N.   Capt. Parry's
 people killed some individuals on Melville Island,
 which were remarkably  well fed and  fat.  They
 are not commonly found at a  great distance  from the
 woods, and when they feed on open grounds they
 prefer the most rocky and  precipitous situations.
 Yet, notwithstanding their bulk and apparent un-
 wieldiness, they climb among the rocks  with all the
 ease and agility of the goat, to which they are quite
 equal  in  sureness of foot.   Their favourite food is
 grass,  but when  this is not to be had, they readily
 feed upon moss, the  twigs  of willow, or tender
 shoots of pine.*
  The appearance of the musk ox is singular  and
imposing, owing to  the shortness of the limbs, its
broad  flattened crooked horns, and the  long dense
hair which envelopes the whole of its  trunk,  and
hangs  down  nearly  to  the  ground.   When  full
  * It is singular and well worthy of observation, that the
dung of the musk ox, though so large an animal, is not lar-
ger than, and, at the same time, is so nearly of the shape and
colour of that of the Alpine Hare, that the difference is not
easily distinguished except  by  the Indians, though  the
quantity generally indicates the animal to which it belonged.
In the country adjacent to the Coppermine river, long ridg-
es of this dung, together with that of deer and other animals
were seen by Hearne.  Similar appearances were observed
by Parry on several of the North Georgian Islands. 
THE MUSK OX.
33
 grown, the musk ox is ten hands and a  half high,
 according to Parry, and as large as  the  generality,
 or at least the middling size of English black cat-
 tle; but their legs, though large, are not so long; nor
 is their tail longer than that of a bear, and like the
 tail of that animal it always bends downwards and
 inwards,  so that it is entirely hid by the long hair of
 the rump and hind quarters.   The hunch on their
 shoulders is not large,  being  little more in propor-
 tion than  that of a deer. Their hair is in  some parts
 very  long, particularly on the  belly,  sides  and
 hind  quarters; but the longest hair about  them, par-
 ticularly the bulls, is under the throat, extending from
 the chin  to the  lower part of the chest, between
the forelegs; it there hangs down like a horse's
mane inverted, and is full as long.*
   * " Mr. Dragge says in his  voyage, vol. 2, p. 260, that the
 musk ox is lower  than a deer, but larger as to belly and
 quarters; which is  very far  from  the truth.   They are of
 the size I have here described them, and the Indians always
 estimate the flesh of a full grown cow to be equal to  three
 deer. I am  sorry also to be obliged to contradict my friend
 Mr. Graham, who says that the flesh of this animal is car-
 ried on sledges to Prince of Wales' Fort, to the amount of
 three or four thousand pounds annually.  To the amount of
 near one thousand pounds may have been purchased from the
 natives  in some particular years,  but it more frequently
 happens that not an ounce is  brought one year out  of five,
{and  in fact, all. that has ever  been  carried  to Prince of
 Wales' Fort, has most assuredly been killed out of a  herd
   Vol. III.---5 
31
THE MUSK OX.
   The winter coat of the musk ox is formed of two
 *orts of hair,  which is generally of a brownish  red,
 and in some places of a blackish brown colour: the
 external being long,  coarse, and straight, and the
 internal, fine, soft and woolly.  The outer hair is so
 long that it hides the  greater part of the limbs, caus-
 ing them to look disproportionately short.  As the
 summer comes on, the short woolly hair is gradually
 shed,  but  the summers are so short in these high
 latitudes,  that the woolly coat  commences growing
 almost immediately after the old coat is shed, so that
 the entire winter coat is completed by the return of
 the cold weather.
   From the shortness of the limbs and the weieht of
 the body, it might be inferred that the musk ox could
 not run with any speed, but it is stated by Parry,
that although they run in a hobbling sort of canter
that  makes them appear as if every now and then
about  to fall, yet the slowest of these musk oxen
can far outstrip a man.  When  disturbed and hum
ed, they frequently tore up the ground  with  their
horns,  and turned round to look at their  pursuers,
but never attempted to make an attack.
  The month  of August is the  season in which  the
musk bulls are the most disposed to combat, as they
at has been accidentally found within a moderate distance
the settlement, perhaps within a hundred miles; which is
ly thought a step by an Indian."  Hearne,"l 36,  (The fort
 mentions, was destroyed by the French in 1782.) 
THE MUSK OX.
35
then fight furiously with each other for the females,
and are jealous of the approach of every  thing, as
already stated.   The cows calve about the end of
May or the  beginning of  June; the calves are fre-
quently whitish, but more commonly marked by a
white patch  or saddle upon the back.
  The musk oxen killed on Melville island during
Parry's visit, were very fat, and their flesh,  espe-
cially the heart, although highly scented with musk,
was  considered very good food. When cut  up it had
all the appearance of beef for the market.  Hearne
says that the flesh of the musk ox does not at all re-
semble that of the bison, (Bos AmericanusJ but is
more like that of the moose, and the fat is  of a clear
white tinged with light azure.  The young  cows and
calves  furnish a very palatable beef, but that of the
old bulls is  so intolerably musky, as to be exces-
sively  disagreeable.  A knife used in cutting  up
such meat, becomes so  strongly scented  with this
substance, as to require much; washing and scouring
before  it is removed.* Musk  ox flesh when dried,
is considered  by hunters and Iudians  to be very
good.  "  In most parts of Hudson's Bay it  is known
by the name of Kew-hagon, but amongst the North-
ern Indians it  is called Achees."  The weight of
  •Moschusiste glandulis juxta praeputiumpositis efformari
videtur; ibi materia fusca, concreta, fortissime moschi odo-
rans inventa est. 
36
THE MUSK OX.
 the musk ox, according to Parry, is about 700 lbs.
 that of the head and hide is 1301bs.
   The horns of the musk ox are employed for va-
 rious purposes by the  Indians and Esquimaux, es-
 pecially for making cups and spoons.  From the long
 hair growing on the neck and chest, the Esquimaux
 make their  musquitoe wigs, to defend  their faces
 from those troublesome  insects.  The hide of the
 musk ox makes good soles for  shoes, and is much
 used by the  natives for this purpose.
  During  the months of August and  September
 the musk oxen extend  their migrations to the North
 Georgian and other islands bordering the northern
 shores of the continent.  By  the first of October
they have  all left the  islands  and moved towards
the south.   By Franklin's Expedition, they were
not seen lower than 66° N. though, as we have be-
fore stated from Hearne, they are occasionally seen
as low as 60°. 
CHAPTER H.
     Order VIII. Cete; Cetaceous Animals.

  Cetaceous animals in general appearance and in
mode of  living,  bear  a considerable resemblance
to fish, with which they are popularly confounded;
but by all the details of their conformation, their man-
ner of respiration  and the nourishment of their off-
spring, they are entitled to rank in the first class of
animals, although at the inferior  extremity of the
scale.
  In these creatures the head is joined to the trunk
by so short and thick a neck, as to appear continuous
with the body, and this large neck  is in the greater
number capable of very little, if any motion, owing
to the consolidation of  several of the slender cervi-
cal vertebrae.  The trunk of the body gradually de-
creases until it terminates in a  thick  tail,  which
ends  in a horizontal  cartilaginous fin,  and when
used  by the animal in  effecting its  forward motion,
is moved up and down,  never laterally.
  The anterior extremities or arms, although in all
respects analogous to those of the  higher orders of
animals, have the bones shortened, flattened and en- 
38           CETACEOUS ANIMALS.
veloped in a tendinous membrane, so as to be effec-
tually converted into fins.  The posterior extremi-
ties or limbs are entirely wanting.
   The brain is large and well developed.   The
bone containing the organ of hearing, or internal
ear, is separated from the  rest of the head,  being
attached thereto by ligament alone.   The orifice of
the external ear is very small and destitute of exter-
nal appendage.  The teats, two in number, are either
pectoral or abdominal.
/ 
               CHAPTER  III

    Family I.  Sirenia; Herbivorous Cetacea.

   This family is distinguished especially by the ve-
 getable diet of the animals belonging to it,  which
 is indicated by their flat grinding teeth.  The head
 is not very large, and has always a short and obtuse
 snout, at the extremity of which, the external open-
 ings of the nostrils are situated, notwithstanding
 they pass through the bones of the head from the
 superior part.  The mouth is  garnished with long
 bristles or whiskers, and the teats are situated upon
 the chest.
   The anterior extremities, though compressed, are
 still sufficiently free to allow them to be used  for the
purpose of carrying any thing by holding it against
the body, the young, for instance, being thusjheld by
the mother.  The tail is not very large, but is pow-
erful. These animals  swim with great facility, and
as they are able to raise the anterior parts from the
water, so as to form a considerable  angle with the
trunk, it is considered  as highly probable that the
various fables of sirens, tritons and mermaids mav 
40
HERBIVOROUS
CETACEA.
 have originated from an  imperfect observation of
 their actions.
   It must be admitted that the members of this fa-
 mily, present little in their general appearance to
 excite attention, uuless it be their huge and almost
 shapeless bodies; but their internal structure, actions
 and habitudes, afford very ample scope for interesting
 observations, and philosophical inquiry; as it would
 not be easy, from any previous  knowledge, to  be-
 lieve  that merely herbivorous animals would  be
 found inhabiting the ocean,   conformed  in all  re-
 spects, so as closely to approach in external appear-
 ance to fish,  and yet in all the characters of teeth,
 mode of feeding and digestive organs, to bear a very
 marked  resemblance to herbivorous land  quadru-
peds. 
CHAPTER IV.
       Wenus I.—Lamantin; Manatus, C.

             GENERIC  characters.

   The head is small and conical with a broad snout,
and rather small  mouth; the eyes are placed high
up between the extremity of the snout and the open-
ings leading to the ears, which are very small and
hardly visible.  The spine is  composed of seven
very short  cervical, seventeen dorsal, two lumbar,
and twenty-two caudal vertebrae.  The  ribs are
seventeen in number.   In addition  to the shoulder
blade, arm and forearm, the lamantins have all the
wrist  or carpal bones, with  the single exception of
the pisiform, the phalanges of the thumb are wanting,
and the corresponding  metacarpal bone terminates
in a point.   All the other  digits have three  pha-
langes. The stomach has several cavities, the ccecum
two branches, and the colon is very  large;  in all
which circumstances  they  strongly resemble the
pachydermatous land  animals, along with which
   Vol. III.----6 
42
THE LAMANTIN.
they have  been considered by some naturalists.*
The surface of the body is entirely destitute of hair.

                Dental System.
■§  |  18 Upper \ '
H<j          \
£  j  16 Lower <
               2 Incisive.
               16 Molar.

;* |  16 Lower 3 16 Molar.
   In  the  upper jaw; in young individuals two
 small pointed incisive  teeth are  found,  somewhat
 similar to those of the morse.   There are no  ca-
 nines.  The eight molars resemble each other; they
 have a general  square form, and all present two
 transverse  eminences,  formed of three  tubercles,
 separated from each  other by a deep groove: they
 all have  three  divergent roots,  one internal, the
 other two external.  They increase gradually, but
 almost  imperceptibly, in  size from the first to the
 last.
   In the lower jaw, neither incisive nor canine
 teeth are ever found, and the molars resemble those
of the upper jaw, except in having a spur posterior-
ly, or  a third eminence much  smaller than the
others.  These teeth have two roots, one in front,
   Blamville at first arranged them with the unguligrada,
and subsequently with the gravigrada, as the Elephants, kc.
See Ranzani, Elem. di Zoologia, ii. parte iii. p. 670 
 
ha 1 ■
Mah' .MmMl.or  1 meant




      15 Ft. in tow/*
Ha- 2.
Zhfsr Mite'  visit' oftfu  satin' t Varwal'.
Fiti. 3.
W.gfichrSc.
Latitat i tin. 
 
Latitat,tin. 
THE lamantin.
43
the other behind, at first simple, but enlarged, and
are bifurcated at their extremity.
   In their reciprocal position, the eminences on one
side, correspond to the grooves and intervals of the
teeth on the opposite side, and to judge by the pre-
servation of the crests of the eminences, it appears
that these teeth are  used more for  triturating, than
for crushing or bruising the food.
         Species I.—American Lamantin.


                Manatus Americanus.

 ''Trichecus Manatus, L. Systema Naturoc.
Manate ou Vache Marine.- Dampier, voyage i. 46. Sloane, Jamaica, ii.
  329, La Condamine, voyage, 154.
Manati .Phocce genus, Clcs. exot: 132.
Lamantin ou Manaly.- Dc Tertre, Hist. gen. des. Antilles.
Grand Lamantin des Antilles, Buff. Hist. Naturelle xiii. 377, C Ann,
  du Museum xviii. 282. pi. 19. Ibid. Ossem. Foss iv;  Desk. Nouv.
  Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xviii. 213 pi. G.  9.
Manatee, or Sea Cow: Bartram, Travels in Florida, 231.

   If the reader infer from the number of authorities
prefixed to this article, that the history of the spe-
cies is  amply or  satisfactorily  known, he will fall
into  an  error, which  a very  little experience  in
books of travels, or  systematic works of natural
history would serve to correct.   Indeed, as a gene-
ral rule, the number of references affixed, is in an
inverse proportion to the amount of knowledge con- 
44
THE LAMANTIN.
  cerningthe animal treated of, and it not infrequent-
  ly happens that the  mere mention of the name of a
  species, is all that occurs in a book quoted with all
  the formality of title and  page.   Bartram, for in-
  stance,  who travelled in  the  country  where  the
  lamantin  is most commonly found, gives the whole
  amount of his observation in nine unsatisfying lines.
  Other  observers, who have enjoyed equally good
 opportunities, have  contented  themselves with a
 mention of the animal, taking it for granted that no
 other information was desirable.
   Of  this  species we  know little or nothing, but
 what is given by Cuvier  in the scientific works
 above quoted, and from the observations made by
 Du Tertre in  his history of  the Antilles.
   The  general  figure of the lamantin is rather el-
 liptical and elongated.  Its head is shaped like a
 simple  truncated cone, and terminates  in a thick
 and fleshy snout, semi-circular at its extremity, and
 pierced at its upper part, by two small semilunar nos-
 trils,  directed forwards.  The edge  of the  upper
 lip is tumid, furrowed in the middle, and provided
 with thick and  stiff whiskers.  The lower lip  is
 narrower and shorter than the upper, and the open-
 ing of the mouth is small.   The eyes are  situated
 towards the upper part of the head, at the same dis-
 tance from  the snout, as the angle of the lips.   The
 ears are very small, scarcely perceptible, and plac-
 ed at the same distance from the  eyes, that  the lat-
ter arc from the snout. 
THE  LAMANTIN.
13
  The neck is not distinguishable by  any diminu-
tion or difference in size from the head and trunk,
and the latter does not  diminish except from the
umbilicus,  whence it rapidly  decreases, until  it
spreads out and becomes flattened, forming an ob-
long tail with a  broad,  thin, and seemingly  trun-
cated extremity.   The tail forms  about a fourth of
the length of the animal.
  The  arm bones which sustain  the fins are more
separated from the body, than those of  the Delphi-
nus, and have digits more distinguishable through
the integuments.   The  edges of  this fin have four
flat and rounded nails, which do not extend beyond
the membrane, the nail  of the thumb  being defi-
cient.   The  skin  is of a gray colour, is  slightly
shagreened, and has upon it a few scattered hairs,
which are more numerous than elsewhere about the
angles  of the lips, and the  palmar surface of the
fins.
   The full grown lamantin is from fifteen to twen-
ty feet in length,  by  eight in circumference, and
weighs several thousand pounds.
   Du Terthe states that the sight of the lamantin
is very feeble, but this defect is compensated by
the extreme  acuteness  of its hearing.   In these re-
spects  it closely resembles the seal.  After having
satisfied its hunger by  feeding on the sea grass  or
fucus,  which constitute  its principal  nourishment,
it delights  to sleep upon the  marshy  grounds  in 
46
THE LAMANTIN.
 shallow water, where it lies with the snout elevated
 above the water.
   When the lamantin is discovered  in this situa-
 tion, the following mode  of securing it, is resorted
 to; three, or at  most, four persons get into a canoe,
 which  is managed  by the man in the bow, who
 moves  his paddle from right to left, without lifting
 it from the water, so as to impel the canoe swiftly
 and without noise.   The  harpooner  sits on a board
 placed across the canoe in the forward part, and the
 third person is  placed  in the middle of the boat to
 manage the line attached  to the end  of the harpoon.
   The  canoe is then swiftly paddled  towards the
 sleeping  animal, the men observing the most pro-
 found silence.  When within three or four paces of
 the lamantin, the harpoon is suddenly  struck into
 its body.  The  most violent efforts  are then made
 by the wounded animal, which leaps up and springs
 forward with great  force,  making the sea foam, by
 the celerity of its  movements.   Tired,  at length,
 with fruitless efforts to escape, and weakened by
 loss  of blood,  the  lamantin stops short, is  again
 wounded by  other  harpoons, and after a few more
 unavailing struggles, yields its liberty and life to-
 gether.
  The female lamantin brings forth her two young,
 which follow her closely, and are very certainly
 captured, if the mother be  killed.  The flesh of the
lamantin is considered an  excellent  article  of diet,
and has, at former periods, furnished a large part of 
THE  LAMANTIN.
47
the subsistence of the inhabitants of St.  Christo-
phers, Guadaloupe,  and Martinique.  This flesh
has the taste of veal,  but is more solid, and covered
in various parts  with two or three inches of fat,
which is used for the same purposes that lard is
commonly employed  for.   It is so good that many
persons melt the fat, and eat the oil upon bread in-
stead of butter.   When salted, the flesh of the la-
mantin loses its flavour and becomes very dry and
hard.
   The name  of manati,  (subsequently changed  to
lamantin,) is said to have been originally given to
this animal by the Spaniards, in consequence of its
short  anterior extremities, which were regarded as
hands. 
CHAPTER V.
       Genus II.—Steller; Stellerus, C. ■

         Rytina, 111. Trichecus, Gmel. Manatus, Stell.

             GENERIC CHARACTERS.

  The head is blunt, joined to the body by a short
indistinct neck, and  has no external ears; the eyes
are defended by a sort of cartilaginous membrane
instead of lids; the nostrils are situated at the  ex-
tremity of the snout; both upper and lower lips are
vertically divided.  The anterior extremities end
in flippers similar to those  of the sea-furtle.  The
caudal fin is very broad, crescent shaped, and ter-
minates on each side by a  large point.   The skin
is hairless, but is defended by an uncommonly thick
epidermis, composed of fibres perpendicular to the
true skin.  The stomach is simple;  the  intestines
upwards of  400 feet in length; the coecum of vast
size, and divided into huge pouches.

                Dental System.
■5  J  2 Upper j 2 Molur.

^  j  2 Lower < 2 Molar. 
'THE STELLER.
49
  These teeth  are not  set in the jaw by roots, but
are affixed by nervous  and vascular  connexions.*
The grinding surface is very rough, being hollowed
so as form many tortuous canals.
          Species I.—Boreal Steller.-\

               Stellerus Borealis; Desm.

   Manatus.- Stell. Act. Petrop. Com. Nov. ii. 294.
   Trichecus Manatus.- V. Borealis, Gmel.
   Whale-tailed Manati: Penn. Arct. Zool.
   Whale-tailed Trichecus: Shaw. Gen. Zool.
   Rytina Stelleri: Desm. N. Diet. D'Hist. Nat. xxix. 575.
   Stellerus Borealis: Ibid. Mammalogie sp. 752, p. 510.

  The only detailed  account of the  manners and
habits of  this  singular animal, is  that  originally
given by Steller in the transactions of the Imperial
Academy of Sciences  of  St. Petersburg, in  1749.
From  his valuable paper, which  contains numerous
highly interesting observations on other animals, we
have translated  the following  faithfully observed
facts.J
  * Resembling in this respect the duckbill animal of Nexv
Zealand 8cc.
  t Cuvier  named the genus formed  for this species, in
honour of Steller; we use his name for the common appella-
tion, because we wish to avoid confounding this animal with
the Manati by using Pennant's term.
  \ This paper is entitled  " De Bestiis marinis auctore
   Vol. 111.---7 
50               THE STELLER.
  An unfortunate accident gave me an opportunity
of observing the manners and habits of these ani-
mals, daily, before the door of our  hut.  They de-
light  in the shallow sandy places,  near  the shores
of the sea, and  are very fond of  frequenting the
mouths of brooks and little rivers, being allured by
the sweetness of the running water; they always go
in troops, the half grown  and young occupy the
front in  feeding, but are solicitously enclosed on
the flanks and rear, so as to  be always kept in the
midst of the  troop.  When the tide is high, they
come so close to the shore, that I have not only fre-
quently touched them with a staff or lance, but have
placed my hand upon their backs.   If struck with
some force, they did nothing more than move a lit-
tle farther off, and in a short time forgetting the in-
jury, they would return.  Entire families common-
ly live together, a male with a single female,  and a
small quite young cub.  They appeared to  me to
be monogamous, bringing forth at any time  of  the
year, but most generally in the autumn, as I should
judge from the  young about that time; hence as I
have observed them, most especially to couple in
the spring.  1 have concluded, that they bear their
young for more than a year, and do not bring forth
but  one cub at a birth.   I never observed more than
one  cub in company with the mother.
Georgio Wilhelmo' Stellero."  Vide  Nov. Comm. Acad.
Scien. Imper. Petropolitanoe, torn. 2, p. 289, 294, et seq. 
THE STELLER.
51
  These most voracious animals are almost inces-
santly feeding, and on account  of this greediness,
have their heads nearly always under water, being
very little solicitous concerning  life and safety.  A
boat or a man may go into the midst of a troop, and
one may be selected and secured by  a hook with-
out difficulty.  All this must be done while they
are feeding,  as  at the end of every four  or  five
minutes, they raise their nostrils above water, and
blow out the air with a small quantity  of water,
making a noise like the snorting of a horse. While
grazing, they move slowly forwards, one foot after
the other, and  thus  in part placidly swim,  and
partly walk,  like oxen or sheep browsing.  The
half of the body, that is, the back and  sides, always
project above the water while they are feeding, and
the gulls alight thereon for the purpose of picking
up the parasite animals with which  their  hides are
much infested, just as the  ravens alight on the
backs of hogs to catch their lice.
   They do not  devour all the  sea-weeds indiffer-
ently, but chiefly two or three  species of Fucus or
Kelp, of which,  when these animals have remained
a day or so in one vicinity, large heaps of the roots
and stalks are thrown ashore by the waves. Hav-
ing gorged themselves fully, some of them sleep
upon their backs, at some distance  from  the shore,
lest they  be left aground  by  the  tide.  They
are frequently killed  by the floating ice iu winter,
which  especially occurs if  the waves  are blown 
52
lilt Sl'ELLLk.
 forcibly  upon the rocks, among which  these  beasts
 are entangled and killed.   In  the winter  they be-
 come so  thin, that in addition to the back bones, all
 the ribs may be couuted through the skin.*
   They  are caught with a large  iron hook,  whose
 extremity resembles the fluke of an anchor;  the other
 end has a ring to which a strong rope is secured.  A
 strong man takes this hook, and in company with
 four or five others goes into a boat, which is slowly
 rowed towards the herd.  The bearer of the hook
 stands in the prow of the boat, and as soon as he comes
 near  enough, strikes it  into one of the  animals.
Thirty or more  persons on  shore then get hold  of
the rope  and drag the struggling victim towards the
 land.   Those in the boat make themselves fast  to
the beast with another  rope; and so fatigue it by
repeated  blows, until it becomes quiet, and then  is
despatched  by spears, knives, and other weapons,
and drawn on shore.  Some cut huge pieces  out  of
the living animal, which only provoked it to vibrate
its tail, and struggle with its fore limbs so  violent-
  * " Vernali tempore more humano coeunt, ac przecipue
circa vesperam tranquillo mari; antequam vero congrediun-
tur praeludia multa venerea praemittunt; foemella placide
natat hinc et inde in mari, mas vero semper sequitur; hunc
foemella tarn diu multis gyrps et  meandris eludit, donee
morse ulterioris ipsa inpatiens, velut delassata ac coacta, se
in dorsum resupinet, quo facto mas  furiose  superveniens
libidinis tributum solvit, ac  ambo in mutuos amplexus  ra-
unt." Steller ut supra. 
THE STELLER.
53
ly, as to cause large pieces of the cuticle to fly off;
it  breathed  strongly, and  as if sighing.  When
wounded  in  the back, the blood  spirts as high
as if from a fountain; but this did not occur as long
as the head was retained under  water, but as soon
as it was raised for the purpose of breathing, the
blood gushed forth, because  the lungs, lying next
the back, being wounded, whenever the air was in-
haled, it forced out the blood more freely.
   When one of these animals is hooked, he  begins
to move more impetuously, whereupon the herd and
those which are near are set in motion, and endeavour
to assist the captive.  Some of them strive to upset
the boat, others endeavour to break the rope, or by
blows with their tails, try to disengage the hook,
which they sometimes successfully accomplish.   It
is a very curious trait in their character, that their
conjugal love is exceedingly great: when the male
is hooked, the female, after having in vain struggled
to set him free, and been herself struck frequently,
 would  nevertheless follow her companion to the
 shore, and would sometimes unexpectedly approach
 the dead body, by darting forwards like an arrow.
 One morning, when  we came  down  very early to
 cut up the flesh and carry it  home, we found the
 male near the body of his mate, and  he remained
 near, even until the third  day afterwards, when I
 went down  to the shore alone, for the  purpose of
 cleaning some of the intestines. 
54
THE STELLER.
    This animal has no voice, nor Utters any sound,
  merely breathing forcibly, and when wounded, as if
  by sighs.  Its  organs of sight  and hearing are of
  slight power, as they are almost always submerged
  and appear to be little employed.
    We have stated in the specific description, as
  well as the generic characters, the peculiar structure
  of the skin of the steller.  It will perhaps be still
  more satisfactory to the reader to have the more de-
  tailed description of it from the original observer,
  whose statement we subjoin.
   The hide of this animal is black, rough, wrinkled,
 knotty,  hard, tough, and destitute of hair, the epi-
 dermis  being  an inch thick,  and scarcely to  be
 penetrated by an axe or an iron hook.   When cut
 transversely, this cuticle  resembles ebony, both  in
 polish and colour.  The skin is smooth on the back;
 from the neck, to the tail  fin, it has nothing but su-
 perficial  circular wrinkles: the  sides, however, are
 exceedingly knotty,  having many prominent ace-
 tabula, especially about the head, bearing an un-
 pleasant resemblance to mushrooms.
   The cuticle above described, is like a crust sur-
rounding the body, and appears to be composed of
mere tubes.  These tubes are placed perpendicu-
larly to the true skin, and may be  separated from
each  other in their length.  The inferior part of
each tube which is implanted in the skin, is round-
ed, convex and bulbous; hence, a portion of cuticle
torn off,  appears tuberculous like  Spanish hide,
while the subjacent skin presents the appearance of 
THE STELLER.
55
numerous little pits, which the cuticular bulbs had
occupied. As these tubuli lie very closely together,
are tough, moist and tumid, when the skin is cut
horizontally they  do not  appear,  but present a
smooth surface like the pared hoof of an  animal;
if pieces be dried in the sun, they crack perpendicu-
larly and may be broken like bark, at which time,
this tubular structure, is perfectly obvious. Through
these tubes a mucous matter flows, especially upon
the sides, and about the head, and in smaller quan-
tities upon the back.   When  this beast  lies upon
the shore for some hours, the back becomes  dry, but
the head and sides remain moist.  The use of this
singular cuticle appears to be, 1st. to preserve them
from being destroyed by  being thrown against the
ice in winter, or the rocks at all times, and 2dly,
that the vital heat may not be too much dissipated
in summer, by excessive transpiration, or altogether
extinguished by the cold of winter.   They do not,
like other animals and  fish, retreat to the depths of
the sea, but  always  expose half of their bodies to
the air, while feeding.
   The  cuticle about  the head, eyes,  ears,  and
mammae, and under the arms, wherever it is knotty,
is attacked  and infested by insects.  It often hap-
pens that they perforate the cuticle and wound the
true skin, in which case, large and thick warts are
 formed.
   The true skin is about the sixth of an inch thick,
 is soft, white, very strong, and similar to the skin of
 the whale. 
CHAPTER VI.
   Family II.—Cet/e; Piscivorous Cetaceous
                   Animals.

  This family is distinguished from the preceding,
by the construction which has procured for all its
members the  name  of  blowers, in  reference to the
manner in which they expel the water taken in
along with their food from the nasal openings.  The
membrane lining the nostrils being thus continually
exposed to torrents of salt water, has very little, if
any sensibility as an organ of smelling.
  They  have a pyramidal larynx, or  windpipe,
which is extended to the posterior  opening of the
nostrils, through which the air is  admitted to the
lungs without requiring the head and mouth  to be
raised above the water.  Their glottis is altogether
plain, and their voice is reduced to a simple bellow-
ing.  The body is  destitute of hair, but is covered
by a thick, smooth  skin, beneath which is a great
thickness  of strong  cellular substance  containing a
large quantity of oil.
  The teats are situated near the anus; the  fins are
of no use except in swimming.   Two  small bones 
DOLPHIN  PROPER.
57
situated in the flesh near the extremity of the diges-
tive canal, are the only vestiges of inferior extremi-
ties:   Some have a dorsal fin, which is tendinous
and not connected with the skeleton.
  Some of these animals  have conical teeth, all of
the same sort, arranged along the edges of the jaws;
others have only horny layers, projecting from the
roof of the mouth, well known by the name of ba-
leen,  though  generally  and  inaccurately called
whalebone.
  The eyes, which are flat anteriorly, have a very
thick  and solid sclerotica or external coat.   The
tongue is  covered by soft and thick integument.
The stomach has from five to seven distinct pouch-
es, and instead of one spleen, there  are  several,
which are small and lobular.
 Tribe I.—Delphinus; L, Dolphin Proper; G.

  Having teeth in both jaws, always simple and
almost always conical.  They have the mouth form
ed_ in advance of the head, by a sort of beak, small-
er than the  rest of the head.  They are destitute
of ccecum.
Vol. III.----8 
CHAPTER VII.
Section I.—Size of the head bearing the ordinary
         proportion to that of the body.

       Genus?—Dolphin; Delphinus; L.

             GENERIC  CHARACTERS.

  The  form of  the  head is very various; there is
but one, semilunar, external orifice to the  nostrils,
which is situated upon the crown of  the head; the
trunk of the body is elongated; the tail fin  is large,
bifurcated and horizontal.

                Dental System.

  The teeth of the pisciverous cetae scarcely differ
from  each  other, except in number,  all appearing
to have  the  same form.  They are conical  and
slightly hooked; only the larger species have larger
teeth than the smaller, and when their series are
numerous,  the anterior and posterior  are smaller
than those in the middle.  None of them  have the
alveolar processes divided, nor multiplex roots; the
dental capsule remains for a long time free at the
base; but these teeth are not always growing, as the 
 
 
 
 
THE TRUE DOLPHIN.
59
capsule  is eventually  obliterated.   Then  another
event occurs;  ossification of  the jaws  takes place
within the alveoles, and as the teeth are not opposed
to each other, and no  force retains them in their
places, they are soon thrust out and disappear. This
explains the very variable number of teeth we find
in dolphins of the same species, and still more so
in those of different species.  Thus,  not having ob-
served between the teeth of dolphins any essential
difference of form, and their  differences of  number
not being determinate, we  have  nothing but  the
form of their heads from which to establish  the
generic differences.
         Species I.—The true Dolphin.*

                Delphinus Delphis; L.

       Le Dauphin: Bonitateb.be; Cetol. 20, pi. x, fig. 2.
       Dauphin Vulgaire: Desm.  Mammal, sp. 758, p. 514.

  [ Called Grampus, Porpess, Herringhog, Dolphin. ]

   Hitherto  the subjects of our  study  have been
inhabitants of  grassy plains, or shady  forests;  the
margins of gentle streams, or the outlets of mighty
  * We call this the true Dolphin to distinguish it from the
fish called dolphin by sailors, (the coryphcena purpuris) and
because this species is the dolphin so celebrated in various
ancient poems and fables, to which we shall hereafter refer. 
60
THE TRUE DOLl'HIN.
 rivets: we now turn our attention to creatures whose
 most  congenial dwelling  is in the  bosom  of  the
 ocean.
    So admirably are the beings, of which  we  are
 now to treat, adapted to an aquatic life,  that they
 present a similarity of appearance to, and are most
 commonly confounded with fish, though this resem-
 blance extends no farther than to the general figure
 of their bodies, and  the moditication of structure
 which fits their extremities for swimming.   Lan-
 guage can scarcely convey an idea of the velocity
 with which  they dart through the water, seeming
 rather to fly  than to swim; resembling an arrow im-
 pelled by a powerful  bow, barely long  enough in
 sight to  allow a conviction of its  having passed.
 Of their wonderful celerity of movement, and re-
 markably playful disposition, we have recently en-
joyed many excellent opportunities of observation.
 Once in particular, on a beautifully clear day, when
 the sea was so strongly illuminated by the sun as to
 render objects visible at almost any depth, and our
 vessel was sailing swiftly before a strong breeze, se-
veral of these animals appeared to vie with each other
in showing how poor was her speed, compared with
their own. As the little troop were merrily gamboling
at a short distance from the vessel's side, one of the
number would dart  immediately in advance of her
bow, and swimming  with his utmost velocity, would
disappear in a straight line before her, and (as the
depth at which he swam was not more than  three 
THE TRUE DOLPHIN.
61
feet,) would in a minute or two be seen returning to
the crew of his comrades, as if in triumph.   This
was repeated many times,  and most probably by
different individuals.  These dolphins accompanied
us for a considerable distance, and all their actions
appeared indicative of the most playful  and frolic-
some disposition.*
   They frequently, however, are seen sailing along
with a slow and  measured motion, just appearing
at the surface, by elevating the crown of the head
and then  diving short,  so as to make their bodies
describe the arch of a small circle, exposing them-
selves to view  only from the crown of the head, to
a short distance behind the dorsal fin. Occasionally
  * " On the 20th of October, 1763, a hundred of these ani-
mals approached  within pistol  shot of our vessel, and ap-
peared  to have come expressly for our diversion.  They
made singular bounds into the air; several of them in their
caperings leaped three or four feet above the water, and turned
over and over several times, like professed tumblers.  They
go almost always in troops, and swim as if arranged in bat-
tle array: they appear to move in search of the wind.   We
have always remarked that they swim towards the  point
whence the  wind  arises." Dom. Pernethy, Hist, d'un voyage
aux iles Malouines, i. p. 97, &c.
  " I have seen one playing around the vessel while she was
going  at the rate of two leagues an hour; the sailors  said
that  it  foretold a squall; in fact, one came on at midnight."
St. Pierre, voyage a Vile de France, p. 52.
   In the instance above mentioned, witnessed by the author,
the vessel was moving at the rate of eight miles an hour, 
62
THE TRUE DOLPHIN.
 a troop of them may be seen scudding along, rising
 in this manner in quick succession, as if anxious
 each to get in advance of the other: while again, a
 single individual may be observed successively ris-
 ing and  falling in the  same way, as if engaged in
 the act of catching a prey.
   In this way, shoals of dolphins may be seen al-
 most every day,  and at any hour feeding or sport-
 ing  in the bay and rivers near the city of  New
 York, where We have sometimes enjoyed an oppor-
 tunity of observing from the wharf, a large shoal of
 them moving down the Hudson rivet with the tide.
 Some plunging  along as if in haste,* others appa-
 rently at play, and others very slowing  rising to the
 surface for breath, and as gradually disappearing,
 allowing their dorsal fin to remain for a considerable
 time above the surface.
   From the month of May until towards the end
 of Autumn, the true dolphins frequent the bays and
 salt-water rivers of our  country, in great numbers.
 They are most  numerous, and are  best observed,
 during the run of the herring and shad,  upon which
 they doubtless feast  abundantly; they appear gra-
 dually to diminish in number, as these fish retire
from the rivers and coast, though a small party may
be occasionally  seen very late in the season.
  During the month of June, the actions of this ani-
mal appeared very different from what we have no-
ticed at any other time.  They swam in pairs, re-
mained for a longer time at the surface, and seemed 
              THE TRUE DOLPHIN.            63
to be borne along by the tide rather than urged for-
wards by their own volition.  They moved in  half
circles,  lying rather upon their  sides, and occa-
sionally lashing the water into foam with their  tails
—then  both disappearing, one in a few seconds
would rise at a little distance as if pursued—make
a short leap above the surface of the water, and on
falling, again commence the same kind of semicircu-
lar movement above described, accompanied by the
other.   We never observed them to show the beau-
ful inferior surface of their bodies  at any other  peri-
od, or to raise the tail fin above the water.  But at
this season, the  whole inferior surface of the body
on one side was frequently visible, and the tail occa-
sionally whirled in air,  and brought  down  with
great force.
   We  would have inferred that these movements
belonged  to their ordinary gambols, was it not for
the fact that they all appeared to be paired off, and
almost all the pairs seen at this time were similarly
occupied.  With the exception of a  lapse of  about
three weeks in  the month above  mentioned, we
have never observed them to act  in the same  man-
 ner.  During the period referred to, we spent a part
 of every day in  observing them, and have repeated-
ly been within  eight or ten feet  of the spot where
 they were sporting.  Occasionally we have watch-
 ed them for hours, until the force of the tide swept
 them far  beyond our view. 
  (54             THE TRUE DOLPHIN.
            •
    The appearance of  a shoal of these animals, at
 sea, moving  in the same direction, is considered by
 experienced mariners as an indication of an approach-
 ing storm, which very certainly follows their appear-
 ance.  Falconer, in his beautiful poem of the Ship-
 wreck, thus describes such a circumstance:

   " Now to the north from burning Afric's shore,
   A troop of porpoises their course explore;
   In curling wreaths they gambol on the tide,
   Now bound aloft, now down the billow glide:
   Their tracks awhile the hoary waves retain
   That burn in sparkling trails along the main—
   These fleetest coursers of the finny race,
   When threatening clouds th' ethereal vault deface,
 .  Their route to leeward still sagacious form,
   To shun the fury of the approaching storm."
                                    Canto II. § II.

   Relative to the breeding season of the dolphin,
we have no information sufficiently exact to be re-
lied on.  We have seen them in Long Island Sound
during  the month of August, and the first  part of
September, accompanied by suckers, varying in size,
and from eighteen inches to two  feet or more in
length.   In swimming,  or rather  in plunging, as
heretofore  described, the sucker apparently rested
on the lateral  or humeral fin of the parent, as it al-
ways, was seen as if adhering to the same place by
the side of the parent,  in all the movements made
in  ascending or descending. 
THE TRUE DOLPHIN.
65
  A full grown dolphin measures about six feet six
inches in length, from the tip of the mouth to the
end of the tail, and from the end of the beak to the
angles of the mouth the distance is ten and a half
inches; and  measuring from the same  point to the
breathing-hole,  thirteen inches.   The  eyes are
placed almost precisely on the same line with the
angle of the mouth,  and are ten and a half inches
distant from each  other.  The lateral or  humeral
fins are nine and a half inches long, and four broad.
The dorsal fin, measured along its anterior edge, is
ten inches high; measured along its base in the di-
rection  of the back, it is eight inches. The tail,
measured at the extremity of its two lobes, is four-
teen inches broad.
  The body of the true dolphin is nearly oval, hav-
ing the dorsal fin to curve backwards at its summit:
the beak being flattened and pointed, and contain-
ing in both jaws a range of rounded, rather pointed
teeth, which project from the sockets about three
twelfths of  an inch.  These teeth are all  arranged
so as to interlock; and appear to vary  according to
the sex and age of the animal.*  The head of this
animal does not project over the beak, but is gra-
dually enlarged backwards until in a line with the
back.  The line  from the  under surface  of the
lower jaw, is continued with very little change of
  * From 84 to 95 upper, from 84 to 95 lower teeth,
which are regarded as molars.
  Vol. III.---9 
66
THL  111UL DOLPHIN.
  direction till opposite the dorsal fin, where the body
  is thickest.  From a hand's breadth or more behind
  the dorsal fin, the body rapidly diminishes to the
  tail, and on the lower  surface, the same rapid di-
  minution takes place from beyond the anus.   The
 tail is composed of two strong lobes terminating in
 points, which give  a beautiful crescent  shape,  to
 the extremity  of this powerful  instrument  for
 swimming.
   In examining the anatomical details of this ani-
 mal, one can not fail to be struck with the singular
 appearance of the bones forming  the lateral fins.
 We find a shoulder blade, an  arm bone,  bones of
 the  forearm, wrist and fingers, all so modified as,
 when covered by  the skin, to resemble nothing so
 much  as a fin, yet so  obviously analogous to the
 same bones in the human subject,  or in other ani-
 mals, as to be recognised almost at  a glance.  The
 construction  of  the  blow-hole, or  breathing  ap-
 paratus, is also well worthy the peculiar  attention
 of the observer who may have an opportunity of
 examination, on  account of its  remarkable excel-
 lence of adaptation, and the delicacy of  its  con-
struction.
  The colour of the true dolphin, is of a black or
blackish green on the  upper surface, and on  the
inferior parts, of a  light  gray or whitish.  There is
below the eye, on each side,  a whitish ray  or blaze
extending towards  the humeral fins. 
ULADIATOK DOLPHIN.
67
         Species \l.—Gladiator Dolphin.

                 Delphinus Gladiator.

Schwerdt Jisch: Andehsov, Island, p. 155.
Poisson d Sabre; Pares voyage au Pole nord, ii. p. 142.
Delphinus dorsi pinna altissima, & Mitller, Zool.  Dan. Prod. p.
  8. n. 57.
Delphinus Maxinyus: Oiafsew, Voy. en Islande.
Dauphin Epie de Mer: Bonnat. Cetol, sp. 5. p. 23.
Dauphin Gladiateur: Lacep. Hist. Nat. des Cetaces, 302. pi. 5, fig. 3.
Dauphin Espadon.- Desm. Mammal, sp. 773. p. 517.

   This dolphin was first described by Anderson in
the work  above quoted, and we have  very little
knowledge of it, except what is  derived from him.
The head of the gladiator  is not  highly arched
above,  but is  gradually tapering towards the snout,
which  is short  and  as if truncated.  Its mouth is
furnished with  small pointed teeth.  Its most  re-
markable  characteristic  is a dorsal fin, which is
three or four  feet high, by eighteen  inches wide at
its base, slender towards its summit, and recurved
towards the tail.  Mariners  believe  that this fin is
employed  by this dolphin in attacking the whale;
but Anderson states " that it is rather the mouth of
the animal that is dangerous.   As  they commonly
swim  in small troops, they attack the  whale in a
body,  and tear off great pieces of his flesh, until
becoming excited to a certain degree, he thrusts out
his tongue, when they immediately fasten on this 
68
GLADIATOR DOLPHIN.
  organ and devour it, and finally, gaining access to his
  mouth, they destroy the life of the animal." Bonna-
  terre remarks, that  the  same author  thinks  with
  reason that the cetaceous animals called Killers, on
  the coasts of New England, are of this species.  In
  fact, they have both jaws furnished with teeth which
  interlock, have  on their backs a fin four or five feet
  high; swim in troops, and attack in a  body young
  whales, just as a pack of dogs attack a bull.  Some
 seize the whale by the tail to prevent him from
 using this  weapon of  defence, while  the others at-
 tack and bite him about the head,  until the un-
 wieldy creature becomes fatigued, and thrusts forth
 the tongue as already  stated.
   The gladiator dolphin is found on the coasts of
 Spitzbergen,  in Davis's  straits,  and on the New
 England coasts.  The Chevalier Pages, on his voy-
 age towards the north pole, found  them about the
 79th  degree of latitude.  " The  sabre-fish,"  says
 he, " are also found among the ice, but  they rarely
 quit the frozen  climate near the  pole.   They  are
from twenty-three to twenty-five feet long; they are
black, and carry their  sabre  perpendicularly upon
the back; this sabre is curved backwards, and is
about four feet long.  I have seen whales fly from
them  with  the utmost  celerity,  and  I  have seen
others deeply scarred by the weapon of this war-
like  animal."*
* Op. cit. apud Bonnaterre Cetologie ut su 
THE SEA-SWINE.
69
          Species III.—The Sea-swine.

               Delphinus Phoccena; L.

     Delphinus Plwcoena: Bniss. Regne An. 371, No. 2.
     Dauphin Marsouin.- Lacep. Cet. 284, pi. 13, fig. 2.
     Dauphin Marsouin: Bonnatekee, Cetol, p. 18, sp. 1.
 [Called by the English Porpus: by the Dutch Bruinvisch;
  in German Meerschwein; by the French Marsouin.]

   We give an account of this species in this place,
 because authors are in the habit of ranking it among
 those which frequent our coasts.   But we have not
 been able at any time to learn that the sea-swine
 has been seen in our waters, or that any other spe-
 cies than those already mentioned are known to our
 fishermen.  The  dolphin first described,  or  true
 dolphin, is  the  species  universally known by the
 name of porpus*  in this country, and is at once dis-
 tinguishable from the European porpus,  or  sea-
 swine, by its elongated  flattened beak; the latter
having a blunt snout, without any beak.   If it  ever
is seen on our coasts, it must be very rare, as we
have been thus far unable to find any one who has
seen it, except in the  seas bordering the shores of
Europe.  We therefore introduce the description of
  * Porpus is a corruption of porc-poisson, as the French
marsouin is of the German meerschwein. 
 70              THE SKA-SWINE.
 the species  from Bonnaterre, in  order  that  those
 who have opportunities of observation, may be able
 to compare the animals and settle the question.
   The body of the sea-swine is conical, having a tri-
 angular fin on the back.   The snout is pointed, and
 the teeth  rounded,  trenchant,  and enlarged at their
 summits.   The body of this animal is round, thick,
 and tapering towards the tail.  The head represents
 an obtuse cone, which is much arched above the orbits
 of the  eyes: it thence gradually tapers down  to the
 snout.   The eyes are situated opposite the opening
 of the  mouth: the pupil is black, surrounded with a
 white  iris.   Both jaws  are  nearly of  the same
 length; the lower one being  armed on  each side
 with a range of small teeth, which are  slender at
 the base, flattened,  trenchant,  and rounded  at the
 summit; varying  in number from  fifty to fifty-five.
 Behind the eye is a small round  hole, an inch in
 diameter;  this is the ear.  The blow-hole is situated
 upon the  summit of the head, in  the centre of the
 interval between the eyes and angle of the mouth.
 The nostrils  are  placed between the blow-holes
 and the extremity of the muzzle.   The lateral fins
 are placed upon the borders of the lower  surface of
 the body:  the dorsal fin occupies the middle of the
 back.  Behind this fin the back is flattened  anu
 raised  in the  middle by a projection which extends
entirely to the caudal fin.  On  the  part  of the
belly corresponding to the dorsal fin, there is a de-
pression which conceals the sexual organs.   The 
THE SEA-SWINE.
n
vent is  equi-distant  from the depression  and the
caudal fin.   The caudal fin is formed of two lobes
rounded at the points, and slightly grooved.   The
colour of the whole superior surface  is of a black-
ish blue: the belly whitish.   The  length  from six
to eight feet.
  This animal, which is considered an excellent
swimmer, habitually carries the head and tail curv-
ed downwards, and in consequence, shows nothing
but the back when it comes to the surface to breathe;
but as soon as  it is dead, it extends itself  in  a
straight line.  They feed on  small fish, which they
pursue  with inconceivable  swiftness.  The  sea-
swine are almost always  seen in troops, especially
in their  sexual  season, which is in the month of
August.   It is then common to see ten or fifteen
males in pursuit of a single female, and they press
on with so much ardour, that they are often strand-
ed on the beach before they are aware of  their
situation.   The young are carried ten months; only
one is brought forth at a time.   An embrion, extract-
ed from the mother by Klein, was about twenty-
one inches long.   The  young one constantly fol-
lows the mother until weaned.
  The flesh of this animal is oily and disagreeable.
The Laplanders, Greenlanders, and others eat it.
Iu some parts of the world they are killed for the
sake of their oil and  skins. 
72
FABULOUS HISTORY
         Fabulous History of the Dolphin.

   Few animals have occupied a more distinguished
 place in the writings of historians and poets, than
 the dolphin, whose actual  habits and  manners  we
 have just examined.  From  Herodotus,  the father
 of Greek historians, down to a comparatively recent
 period, we find a succession of wonderful incidents
 related, originating either from the most inaccurate
 observation of fact, or from  the wildest extravagance
 of fancy.
  It will be an amusing, and we hope not an unin-
 structive lesson, to trace some of the most remarka-
 ble of these stories, both to  show how far the human
 mind may permit itself to  be misled, and to set at
 rest, by exposing their futility, such recitals as the
 beauty and excellence of poetry tend to perpetuate
 as probable or true. Investigations of this kind may
 in some degree lessen  the pleasure derived from
 works  of fiction, but the advantage of being pos-
 sessed of the truth,  far  outweighs the temporary
 gratification arising from an indulged imagination.
  The most ancient of the accounts given of the do-
cility and friendly disposition of the dolphin, is that
related  of Arion, by Herodotus  in  his first book.
As this may be considered the source  from which
most of the others have  sprung, we  subjoin  a free
translation from the venerable historian. 
OF THE DOLPHIN.
73
  " Periander was king of Corinth.  The Corin-
thians relate, (and the Lesbians agree with them,)
that during his life-time, a great prodigy occurred.
They say that Arion was carried from Methymna
to Taenarus upon the back of a dolphin: as a musi-
cian, he was second to none, as a dithyrambist, we
know he was the first, composing, giving rules and
teaching at  Corinth.   Having spent  much of his
time with Periander, he desired to visit Sicily;  hav-
ing acquired much wealth there he wished to go  back
to Corinth, for which purpose he hired a vessel  from
some Corinthians at Tarentum. When at sea,  they
conspired to throw him overboard,  that they might
share his money; which having learned, he earnest-
ly besought them to take his wealth, but spare his
life.  But they, unmoved by his entreaties, ordered
him either to kill himself, and perchance obtain a
burial on shore, or to cast himself instantly into the
 sea.
   " Driven to despair, Arion besought them,  since
 it was thus determined, that  they would allow him
 to sing, standing completely arrayed  on the  deck.
 They promised him that he  might die singing, and
 pleased that they should hear the most excellent of
 musicians, they removed from the poop towards the
 middle of the ship.   Arion, clad in his professional
 robes,* took his lyre, and, standing on the deck, ran
  * Ev «n <xtvn rta«v is rendered by Dalzell, « completely ar
rayed," as we have given the phrase in  the second para
  Vol. III.---10 
74
FABULOUS HISTORY
through the Orthian measure.*  Having concluded,
he threw himself into the sea, and they sailed on from
Corinth.  But Arion,  sitting ou a  dolphin's back,
was conveyed to Tsenarus, &c. &c.   These things
are  still told  by the  Corinthians  and  Lesbians.
There is a  small brazen votive tablet of Arion near
Tsenarus,   of a man   mounted upon  a  dolphin's
back.f
graph.  Murphy says it was not his ordinary dress he wish-
ed to die in, but one peculiar to him as a musician.
  • So called, because sung at the highest and strongest pitch
of the voice.  " OpOvov enim Grseci dicunt quod arduum est,
et quam altissima voce elevatum.—Gesnerus.
  t Herodotus, sx sua K%nwa.—This story did not escape the
biting irony of Lucian, whose talent for ridicule has rarely
been surpassed.   He has a dialogue between Neptune and
the very dolphin who bore Arion in safety to Tsenarus, and
makes  him  repeat Herodotus's story,  as "having heard
the whole of it while swimming round the  ship."  Lucian
also  accounts for the fabled attachment of the Dolphin to
the human race, by making this one remind Neptune that
they  were changed from men to dolphins by Bacchus. Ovid
relates  the  transformation  in his  third book of Metamor-
phoses, where Bacchus himself, in the semblance  of his
companion Acaetes, is the speaker:—

    " At Lybis obstantes dum vult obvertere remos,
   In spatium resilire manus breve vidit; etillas
   Jam non esse manus jam primas posse vocari.
   Alter ad intortos cupiens dare brachia funes
   Corpore desiluit; falcata novissima cauda est
    Qualia dimidise sinuantur cornua lunte." 
OF THE DOLPHIN.
75
   The sagacious and judicious Plutarch not only re-
peats this story, but introduces Gorgias in the conver-
sation of the seven wise men, as saying, that lie knew
Arion,  before he  landed  from  off the  dolphin's
back, because he had on the dress he had worn  at
the public games.   Auliis Gellius repeats the story
from Herodotus, as  it was originally told,  and Ovid
perpetuates it in verse.*
   " Numerous examples,  (says Aristotle,)  of the
gentleness and mild manners of dolphins  are relat-
ed.  About Tarentum, Caria and other places, they
tell of their love and regard for boys.   A dolphin
having been  wounded  near Caria, a troop  ofdol*
phins, it is  said, gathered in the port, until the fish-
* Ille metu vacuus, mortem non deprecor inquit;
  Sed liceat sumta pauca referre lyra.
Dant veniam, ridentque moram: capit ille coronam,
  Qusb possit crines, Phcebe, decere tuos.
Induerat Tyrio bis tinctam murice pallam:
Reddidit icta suos pollice chorda sonos;
Flebilibus veluti numeris canentia dura
Trajectus penna tempora cantat olor.
Protinus in medias ornatus desilit undas,
Spargitur impulsa caerula puppis aqua.
Inde, fide majus tergo Delphina recurvo
Se memorant oneri supposuisse novo.
Ille sedens citharamque tenet, pretiumque vehendi
Cantat, et asquoreas  carmine mulcet aquas.
Di pia facta vident: astris Delphina recepit
Jupiter, et stellasjussit habere novem. 
76             FABULOUS HISTORY
erman set his  prisoner at liberty, when they all
went off.   A larger dolphin likewise always ac-
companies them as a guard.  A troop of dolphins
of larger and smaller size, were  once seen, and, at
no great  distance behind them, two dolphins ap-
peared, bearing up the body of a young dead dolphin
on their backs, by  swimming beneath it, as if in-
duced by pity lest it should be  devoured by some
beast.*
  (Elian  relates in the  third chapter of his  eighth
book, that Ceranus, the Parian, purchased the free-
dom of some dolphins caught by Byzantine fisher-
men, and  afterwards sailed towards his own coun-
try  in a Milesian vessel of  fifty oars.   His vessel
was  cast away in the strait of Paros,  but these dol-
phins which he had  set at liberty, came in time to
save their deliverer, and landed him on a promonto-
ry, subsequently called Cerania, in honour of him;
at his death, he requested to be interred at that place;
thither the  dolphins went to pay their benefactor
merited funeral honours.
  Leonidas of Byzantium, narrates (in (Elian's 2d
book,  ch.  6.) that  a man  and  his wife of Ple-
roselene, taught a dolphin to eat  from their  hands,
and  accustomed their son to be  very familiar with
the animal, which very regularly frequented the har-
bour of the town, appearing to regard  it as his home.
When old enough to take care of himself,  he  sought
* Aristotelesde Animalibus Historiae, lib. ix. cap. 35. 
OF THE DOLPHIN.
77
his subsistence at sea, and brought  a share of his
success  in fishing daily to his friends.   The pa-
rents  had given the same name to the dolphin and
their son.  When the  boy sat upon a  projecting
rock, and called his friend, the dolphin immediately
hastened  towards him, testifying  his pleasure by
his frolicsome movements.  This  connection be-
tween the boy and  dolphin,  occasioned a  great
deal of rumour, and  was  very profitable to the
parents.*
   The younger Pliny, however, exceeds all  these
wonders, by the following recital. A scholar, named
Hippus, in the time of  Augustus, who attended a
class at Puzzoli, was in the habit of going  daily
along the shores of Baia, and about mid-day, of
stopping and throwing pieces of bread into the water
to a dolphin.   If the  youth called  the  dolphin at
any time, he would immediately come, and  after
eating his bread, would offer  his back for the use
of his friend  who would mount thereon, and he
would swim with him to Puzzoli,  and afterwards
carry him back in the same manner.  This friendly
intercourse was  maintained for several years; but
  * There is nothing improbable in the dolphin's obedience
to a certain call from one accustomed to supply it with food.
Animals of very inferior rank to the dolphin, may be taught
as much.  The improbability, is in the gratitude of the ani-
mal, evinced by the offer of part of his fish. 
78
FABULOUS HISTORY
 the boy dying, the afflicted animal came frequently
 to the accustomed place, remained there  sorrowful
 and wretched, and finally died of grief I*
   The reasons for believing the present species to be
 the dolphin of the  poets, are the following: first, it
 is the only dolphin which is known habitually to fre-
 quent the coasts, or to visit the deep bays  which
 extend far inland.   The sea-swine (meerschwein,
 marsouin, Delphinus Phoccena,) have no beak ex-
 tending beyond the arched part of the head, and as
 they are seldom seen except in the  full sea, are not
 likely to have afforded much opportunity to the an-
 cients for examination.   That they were  well  ac-
 quainted  with our dolphin,  we  have the most  ex-
 cellent  evidence, in  the figure  of  the one which
 accompanies the statue of the Venus de  Medicis.
 Although the usual poetical licence has been  taken
 by the sculptor, of placing the  animal resting
 on the underjaw and neck, with its body and tail
 raised  in fanciful  undulations, from the great re-
 semblance of the head and beak to those of the dol-
 phin we have been  examining, in conjunction with
 the circumstances of its habits, numbers and fami-
liarity with  the bays and rivers of almost all the
world, we are  persuaded of the identity of the spe-
cies frequenting our waters, with that to which all
the ancient fables relate.
* See Pliny, lib. ix, cap. viii. 
OF THE DOLPHIN.              79
  We have thought it unnecessary to bring the fa-
bulous history of the dolphin down to a later period
than that of Pliny,  as all the subsequent stories
appear to be variations of the  same.  It is impos-
sible, however, not to feel sorry that some modern
works of great authority and usefulness, continue to
interweave so much of what is barely possible, with
the little that is  attested in regard to this and other
animals, as  to  give an air of  fable to  the whole.
The  following  from the  " Nouveau Dictionnaire
d'Histoire Naturelle," may serve as an instance.
   " The dolphins form among themselves  a sort of
society; they defend those of the troop that may be
attacked, and utter frightful cries, in order to induce
the aggressors to release them.  The little  dolphins
are placed in the middle of the troop; the large and
most robust at its head: they all preserve  their or-
der like a battalion of soldiers; they swim each in
their ranks; the females  compose the rear guard,
and urge on the stragglers."*
   This is  not  the  only passage  of the kind, that
might be selected from the article on the  dolphin,
in the same work.   If the time  shall ever arrive,
when the facts of natural history are given, without
admixture with fable, the world will be more rapid-
ly and satisfactorily advanced  in improvement than
 can possibly  be hoped for, so long as imagination
Virey op. citato. 
80           FABULOUS HISTORY &C.
is permitted to usurp the place of truth.  The latter,
like perfect beauty, is unsusceptible of adornment,
and is always more admirable in its simplicity than
any fiction, however ingeniously contrived or gorge-
ously ornamented. 
CHAPTER  VIII.
          Genus Narwal; Monodon; L.

              GENERIC CHARACTERS.

  General form of the body similar to that of the
dolphin; a single spiracle or blowhole on the supe-
rior part of the head; inouth small; no teeth within
the mouth, one long spiral  tusk  growing from the
intermaxillary bone; dorsal  crest or spine,  instead
of a fin.   The eyes and ears small.*
            Species  I.—The JVarwal.

               Monodon Monoceros; L.

Monodon Narwhal: Fabricius, Faun. Greenl. 29.
Narwhal oder einhorn.- Aztdersoit, Island. 225.
Narwhal: Bonxat. Ce"tol: 10.
Narwhal Vulgaire: Lacep. Hist. Nat. des C6tac£s. 142.
Narwhal, or Unicorn of the Whalers: Scobesby, Arct. Regions, i. 486.
  In id. Voyage to Greenland, 129.

          [Commonly called Sea- Unicorn.]

   The  narwal is  an inhabitant of the arctic seas,
and consequently is seldom seen, except by the ad-
  * " Penis vaginatusj mammae lactantes binas et genitalia
ferninarum sub abdomine; pone ilia anus."       Bonnat.
  Vol. 111.---11 
82               THE NARWAL.
venturous mariners,  who seek  the  spoils of  the
whale  amid  the  perils of polar ice and  storms.
Fortunately, however, some few of these, incited by
hopes of gain to visit those forbidding regions, have
been well qualified to make accurate scientific obser-
vations, and owing to their zealous industry, we have
actually less to desire concerning the animals found
in the icy seas, than  in relation to many others, al-
most within the reach of every observer.
   Among the individuals to whom  science is most
deeply indebted, the name of Scoresby must ever
stand conspicuous; few persons have  contributed so
largely to the advancement of natural history, while
engaged in ordinary commercial pursuits, and still
fewer  have effected the object  so well  under any
circumstances.   His  mind  appears to  have been
one of that rare, but  amiable composition, in which
genius, talent, energy and sound common sense, are
blended in such just proportion, as to be capable of
operating at all times, and upon all materials, to the
greatest possible advantage.  From his  valuable
researches we shall  derive almost all the observa-
tions which remain to be made upon the cetaceous
animals, claiming for ourselves  no other merit than
that of having collected and arranged them.
   The vertebral column of the narwal  is about
twelve feet long; there are  seven cervical,  twelve
dorsal, and thirty-five lumbar and caudal vertebrae,
being in all fifty-four; twelve of which enter the tail
and extend to within an inch of its extremity. The 
THE NARWAL.
83
 spina marrow runs through all the vertebras, from
 the head of the fortieth, but does not penetrate the
 forty-first.    The  spinous processes  diminish  in
 length from the fifteenth lumbar vertebrae, until it is
 scarcely perceptible at the nineteenth.   Large pro-
 cesses, attached to two adjoining vertebrae, and aris-
 ing from  the inferior surface of the bodies of the
 vertebrae, commence between the thirtieth and thir-
 ty-first, and terminate between  the forty-second and
 forty-third.  There are twelve ribs,  six true and
 six false,  on each side, which are slender for the
 size of  the animal.  The  sternum is heart-shaped,
 with  the  broadest part anteriorly.   Two of the
 false  ribs,  on each side, are joined by cartilages to
 the sixth true rib, the others are detached.
   The  narwal, when full grown,  measures from
 thirteen to sixteen feet in length, exclusive of the
 tusk,  and at the thickest part, which is two feet be-
 hind  the fins, the  circumference is about eight or
 nine feet.  The part of the body anterior to the fins
 and head,  are paraboloidal; the middle portion of
 body  is almost cylindrical, the posterior portion, to
 within three or four feet of the tail, is somewhat coni-
 cal; thence, a ridge commencing both at the back and
 belly, the section becomes  first an ellipse, and  then
 a rhombus  at the junction of the tail.   The perpen-
 dicular diameter, at a distance of twelve or fourteen
inches from the tail, is about one foot, the transverse
diameter is  about  seven inches.   The back  and
belly  ridges,  run half way or more  across the  tail; 
84               THE NARWAL.
the edges of the tail run  in the same way  along the
body, and  form ridges  on the sides of the rump.
Posterior to a very slight elevation at the spiracle,
the outline  of the back  forms a regular curve;  the
belly appears to rise, or is contracted near the vent,
and expands to an obvious bump, about two feet an-
terior to the genitals. The back appears depressed
and flat three or four feet posterior to the neck.
  The head forms  about one seventh of the whole
length  of the auimal, being small, blunt, and round.
The mouth  is small, and incapable of much exten-
sion, having a wedge-shaped underlip.   The eyes
are only one inch  in their largest diameter,  and are
placed on a line with the opening of the mouth, at
about thirteen inches from the snout.  The opening
of the  ear,  situated six  inches  behind the eye, on
the same horizontal line, is of the diameter of a
small  knitting  needle.  The scull of the  narwal,
like the dolphin,  &c.  is concave above, and sends
forth a large, flat,  wedge  shaped process in front,
which  affords sockets  for the tusks.   There is upon
this  process a bed of fat extending horizontally to
the thickness of ten or twelve inches, and eight or
ten perpendicularly.  To this fat, the roundness of
the head is owing, and according to the quantity
present, is  the prominence of the front, and the va-
riation of the facial angle, from  60 to 90 degrees.
   The spiracle or blowhole is situated immediately
over the eyes, and is a single semicircular  opening
about three and a half  inches  in diameter  and  one 
THE NARWAL.
85
inch and a half in length.   It expands immediate-
ly within the skin into  a  sac or air  vessel, six or
eight inches wide, and extending laterally and for-
ward, into two cavities, one on each side;  the  ex-
tremities of which, are about twelve inches apart.
These contain some  mucous matter; the lining of
the whole sac is a thin,  greenish,  black  membrane.
At the posterior' extremity of the sac, the blowholes
are  seen, divided there,  into two distinct canals
in the skull.  They are closed hy a valve resem-
bling a hare lip, one lobe  of which covers each
canal.   This valve in the  narwal, does not, (as in
the whale),  enter the canal in the skull, but merely
closes down upon  it.   It, however,  effectually ex-
cludes the sea-water from the lungs, whatever be the
pressure;  it  becomes, in fact, firmer and closer, in
proportion as the weight of water is increased. The
valve is about  six inches wide and is  closed  and
opened by  two radiated  muscles.   It is  detach-
ed from  the skull beneath, about  six  inches  to-
wards the snout.  In consequence of this separa-
tion, the  valve  is sufficiently free, and has room
enough in the  adjoining sac to be drawn  upward
and forward, so as to expose the  breathing canals,
or falling upon them like the valve of a pump-box,
to secure them against the entrance of water.   The
two lobes of the valve are connected  by  a fleshy
septum, slightly attached to the cartilaginous part of
the  bony partition between the  blow-holes in the
skull. 
8fi
THE NARWAL.
   The fins are twelve or fourteen inches long, and
six or eight broad, and  placed at one fifth of the
length of the animal from the snout.   Where fixed
to the body,  the  fin is  elliptical,  its longest  axis
lying longitudinally, so that when the fin is elevated
to the swimming position, it is horizontal, the point
or tip is bent upwards or towards the back, conse-
quently, when the fin is in the swimming position, it
is concave above, and convex below, the thick edge
forward and the thin edge towards the tail.  The
fin being horizontal, is evidently designed to bal-
ance the animal, while the tail, which is from fifteen
to twenty inches long, and three or  four feet broad,
is the chief organ  of motion, and  is also  used in
turning.  That  the  fins are  not  commonly used
either for swimming or turning, appears probable
from repeated observations made with a teleseope
from the  mast head.  The fins were always seen,
steadily extended, and when the animal changed
its direction, the tail was bent suddenly and oblique-
ly to one side, and then slowly brought back, so
that the progressive motion and change of direction
were produced by the same effort;  the  fin at the
same time remaining motionless.
   The general colour of the young narwal is black-
ish gray on the back, variegated  with numerous
darker spots running into each other and forming a
dusky black surface, paler and more open spots of
gray ou a white  ground  at the sides, disappearing
altogether about the middle  of the  belly.  In the 
THE NARWAL.
■S7
elder animals, the ground is wholly white, or yel-
lowish white, with dark gray or blackish spots of
different degrees of intensity.   These spots  are of
a roundish or oblong form: on the back, where they
seldom exceed two inches in diameter, they are the
darkest and most crowded together, yet with intervals
of pure white among them. On the  sides, the spots
are fainter, smaller and more open.  On the belly
they are extremely faint and few, and being in con-
siderable surfaces, are not distinguishable. A close
patch of brownish black, without any white, is often
found on the upper part of the neck, just behind the
blowhole: the external part of the fins is  also gene-
rally black at the edges, but grayish about the mid-
dle.  The superior side of the tail is also blackish
around the edges: but in the middle, gray with black
curvilinear streaks,  on  a white ground, forming
semicircular figures on each lobe.  The inferior sur-
faces of the fins and tail are similar to  the upper,
only much paler  coloured, the middle of the fins
being white, and of the tail  a pale  gray.   The
sucker narwals are almost uniformly of a bluish
gray or slate  colour.  Very old  individuals be-
come almost white.
   The  skin of the  narwal, resembles  that  of the
whale,  except that it  is  thinner.   The cuticle is
about as thick as writing paper; the rete mucosum
three eighths or three tenths of au inch thick; the
cutis thin, but strong and compact on the outer side. 
88
TIIK
NARWAL.
   We may next consider the most remarkable  pe-
 culiarity which  distinguishes  this animal; the long
 spiral tooth or tusk,  which has obtained for it the
 name of Unicorn.  This tusk grows from the  left
 side of the head, anoj is sometimes nine or ten feet
 long.  Egede, in his description of Greenland, de-
 scribes this tusk as being fourteen or fifteen feet
 long.  It projects from  the inferior part of the up-
 per jaw, and  points forward  and  slightly down-
 ward,  being parallel in direction to the roof of the
 mouth.   It is spirally  striated  from right to left,
 nearly straight,  and tapers to a round blunt point.
 It is of a yellowish white colour, and consists of a
 compact kind of ivory,  and is usually hollow from
 the base to within a  few inches of the point.  A
 tusk of the average length, five feet, is about two inch-
 es and a  half in diameter at the base; one inch and
three fourths in the middle, and about three eighths
 withiu an  inch  of the  end.  In such a tusk  there
are five or six turns  of the spiral, extending  from
the base to within six or seven inches of the point.
Beyond this, the end is not  striated, but smooth,
clean, and  white; the  striated  part is usually gray
and dirty.   The tusk is commonly covered with a
greasy blackish brown incrustation  over the great-
est part  of its  surface; the under  part and a few
inches of the point, are kept quite clear and polish-
ed by  some use which  prevents the adherence of
the matter just  mentioned.   A horn externally of
seven feet in length,  is bedded about fifteen  or 
THE NARWAL.
89
sixteen inches in the skull.   All the male narwals,
killed by Scoresby, excepting one, had tusks of from
three to seven feet in length, projecting from the left
side of the head.
  In addition to this external tusk, peculiar to  the
male,* there is another on the right side of the head
about nine inches long, imbedded in the skull.   In
females as well  as in young males,  in which  the
tooth does not appear externally, the rudiments of
two tusks  are  generally  found in the upper jaw.
These are entirely  solid, and are  placed  back in
the substance of the skull, about six inches from its
most prominent part.   These  rudiments'of tusks
are eight or nine inches long, both in the male  and
female; in the former they are smooth, tapering,  and
terminate at the root with an oblique truncation; in
the latter they have an extremely rough surface,  and
finish at the base with a large irregular knob plac-
ed  towards one side, which gives the tusks  some-
thing of the form of pocket-pistols.  Two or three
instances  have  occurred  of male narwals having
  • Scoresby, in his Greenland voyage, killed a female nar-
wal,  having an external horn, four feet three inches long;
twelve inches of which were imbedded in the skull.  It had
also a milk tusk, as is usual, nine inches long, which was of
s conical form and obliquely truncated at the thicker end,
and without the knob found in many of the milk tusks. The
horn  was on the left side of the head, and the spiral was
dextrorsal.
  Vol. III.—-13 
90               THE NARWAL.
been taken, which  had two external tusks.  This
is a rare circumstance, and it rarely or never occurs
that an  external horn is found on the right side.
  What purpose this singular and formidable tusk
can serve, is not easily to be determined.  It is not
essential to the defence of the  animal, or  else the
young and a vast majority of the females would  be
left unprotected.  It has been suggested, that it is
employed  by the animal in piercing thin ice for the
convenience of rising to respire, and  that it is oc-
casionally employed in killing prey.  But nothing
has yet been observed, sufficient to  enable us to
draw  any  positive conclusion on the subject.
  The food of the narwal appears to be  principally
molluscous animals, such as the cuttle-fish &c, but
judging by the materials occasionally found in  their
stomachs,  more substantial  food is frequently de-
voured by them.  In the stomach of one examined
by  Scoresby,  besides the beaks and other remains
of cuttle-fish, there  was part of the spine of a pleu-
ronectes, or flat-fish, probably a small turbot; frag-
ments of the spine  of a gadus; the backboue of a
rata, with  nearly a whole skate, raia-balis, which
was two feet three inches  long, and one foot eight
inches broad.   That an animal having no teeth ex-
cept the external tusk, a small mouth, and a tongue
incapable  of protrusion, should be able  to swallow
a fish nearly three  times  as  great  as the width of
its own mouth, is really surprising.  Scoresby in-
clines  to  the opinion, that the skates  had  been 
THE NARWAL.
91
pierced with the horn, and killed before they were
swallowed  by the  narwal, as it is otherwise very
difficult to conceive how an animal so large as the
skate,  would allow itself to be sucked down  the
throat  of a  smooth-mouthed  animal, having  no
means of crushing or detaining it.
  The narwal  is a harmless animal,  of an active
disposition, and swims with considerable swiftness.
When  at the surface, for the sake of respiring, these
animals  frequently lie  motionless for  several  mi-
nutes,  with their heads  and backs just appearing
above water.  Occasionally, numerous small herds
are seen  together, each herd generally consisting of
individuals of the same sex.
  The narwal is sometimes shot with a rifle, kept
for that purpose in the crow's-nest of  the whaling-
ships.   When   harpooned,  the narwal  dives as
swiftly, but not so deeply as the common whale.   It
commonly  descends  about two  hundred fathoms,
and then returns to the  surface, where it is soon
killed  with lances.
  The whole body of the narwal  is covered by a
layer of blubber  immediately beneath the skin,
which  is from two to three inches thick, and yields
a considerable quantity of fine oil.   The  Green-
landers and Esquimaux employ the whole animal to
various uses.   The  flesh is eaten, the oil  burned
in their lamps, the intestines wrought into lines  and
dresses,  and the tusks are used for spears &c.   It 
93
THE NARWAL.
is said that the king of Denmark has a magnificent
and valuable throne made entirely of narwal tusks.
   The following are the dimensions of a male nar-
wal, killed by Scoresby near Spitzbergen in 1817.
                                      Feet Inches.
Length, exclusive of the tusk,    -   -  -  15  0
-------from the snout to the eyes,  -  -   1  i|
--------------------------fins,   -  -   3  1
--------------------------backridge,   6  0
--------------------------vent,      -   9  9
Circumference 4| inches from snout,   -   3  5
------------at the eyes and blowhole,    5  Si
-------------just before the fins,   -  -   7  5
-------------at the forepart of backridge,  8  5
-------------at the vent.....5  8
Tusk, length externally,   ..   ...   5  01
-----------diameter at base,    ---02$
Blowhole length li inch, breadth,   -.03$
Tail      do  14    do       ...   3  Q|
Fins      do  13    do       ...   0  7*
  Heart weighed 11 pounds.   Temperature of the
blood an hour after death, 97°.
  A fine specimen of the tusk or horn of the nar-
wal may be seen in the Philadelphia Museum. 
               CHAPTER  X.

Section II.—Size of the head disproportioned to
                that of the body.

         Genus Cachalot; Physeter: L.

              GENERIC CHARACTERS.

   The head in these animals is of huge size, form-
ing a  third,  or even half  of  their entire length.
The  upper is broad, high, destitute  of corneous
fringes and teeth, or having short teeth, almost en-
tirely concealed within the gums.   The lower jaw
is elongated, narrow, and armed with thick conical
teeth, which  fit into corresponding depressions in
the upper jaw. The spiracles  are placed at or near
the extremity of the  superior part of  the snout.
There is a dorsal l».n in some species, in others rlere-
ly an eminence.  In the superior parts of thf  head
there are large cavities, circumscribed by  c? .tilagi-
nous  partitions, and communicating with  dift'erent
parts of the body by particular canals.  These are
filled with an  oil that becomes fixed and crystallized
on cooling, and is the well known  substance  sper-
maceti.
   The teeth are ovoid and recurved; externally they
somewhat resemble ivory, internally they are softer,
and ash coloured.   They are  commonly  about six 
 94)        THK SPERMACETI CACHALOT.
 inches long, and three in circumference at the base,
 and are thought to become larger and more recurv-
 ed as  the animal grows.  The  upper jaw has  as
 many  alveolar depressions as there are teeth in the
 lower, but what is most  remarkable, is, that in the
 interstices separating these  depressions, are to be
 found  about twenty small teeth, horizontally placed,
 and raised about one-twentieth of an inch above the
 gum.  These teeth are acutely pointed, and present
 a flat, even, and oblique  surface,  filling the intervals
 separating the alveoles.   This oblique surface is all
 that is seen of them,  the other parts of these teeth
being imbedded in the gum.*
      Species I.—The Spermaceti Cachalot.

              Physeter Macrocephalus.
   Le Grand Cachalot,- Bonnat. Cetol. 12.
   Cachalot Macrocephale,- Desm. Mam. 524, p. 790.
   Cachalot Macrocephale,- Lacep. Hist. Nat. des C£taces, pi. 10.

  The  spermaceti cachalot  is  found in greatest
abundance in the Pacific Ocean, where large num-
bers of them are annually  killed by  the  American
and other whalers, for the sake of their oil and sper-
maceti.
  The spermaceti cachalot is gregarious, and herds

  * See Desmarest's Mammalogiej Bonnaterre Cetologie;
Sibbald Phalainologia nova. 
THE  SPERMACETI CACHALOT.
95
are fluently seen containing two hundred or more
individuals.  Such herds, with the exception of two
or three old males, are composed of females,  who
appear to be under the direction of the males.  The
males are distinguished by the whalers as bulls; the
females they call cows. The bulls attack with great
violence, and inflict  dreadful  injuries upon other
males of the species, which attempt to join their herd.
These animals live separately, while young, accord-
ing to their  age and  sex.  The young  and half
grown males are found by themselves; the old  cows
protect the young females.  When the young  bulls
attain sufficient  strength,  they  venture into  a  herd
under the protection of some old bulls, an intrusion
that is said to produce a severe contest,  by which
they succeed in gaining admittance to, or are driven
from the herd.
   The mode of  attacking these animals  is  as fol-
lows:—Whenever a  number  of  them  are  seen,
four boats, each provided with two or three lines,
two harpoons, four lances and a crew of six  men,
proceed in  pursuit, and, if possible, each boat strikes
or " fastens  to" a distinct animal, and each  crew
kill their own. When engaged in distant pursuit, the
harpooner  generally  steers the boat,  and in  such
cases the proper boat  steerer  occasionally strikes,
but the harpooner  mostly kills it.  If one cacha-
lot of a herd is  struck, it commonly takes the lead
and is  followed by the  rest.   The one which is
struck,  seldom descends far under water, but gene- 
96
THE  SPERMACETI CACHALOT.
  rally swims off with great rapidity, stopping after a
  short course, so that the boat can  be drawn up to it
  by the line, or be rowed sufficiently near to lance it.
  In the agonies  of death, the struggles of the animal
  are truly tremendous, and the surface of the ocean
  is lashed into  foam by the motions of the fins  and
  tail.  Tall jets of  blood  are  discharged from the
  blowholes, which show that the wounds have taken
  mortal effect, and seeing this, the boats are kept
  aloof, lest they should  be dashed to pieces by the
  violent efforts of the victim.
    When  a  herd is attacked in  this way, ten or
  twelve of the number are  killed;  those  which are
 only wounded are rarely  captured.  After the ca-
 chalot is  killed, the boats tow it to the side of the
 ship, and if the weather be fine, and other objects
 of chase in view, they are again sent to the attack.
   The separation  of the blubber from the animal,
 or " flensing,"  is sometimes done  differently from
 the manner used in the  polar whaling.  A strap of
 blubber is cut in a spiral direction, and being raised
 by tackles, turns the cachalot round as on an axis,
 until nearly all the  blubber is stripped  off.   The
 material contained  within  the  head,  consisting of
 spermaceti mixed  with  oil, being  in a  fluid state
 while warm, is taken  out of large cachalots in
 buckets, while the animal remains in the water; but
 in smaller ones,  the part of the  head containins the
spermaceti, is hoisted upon deck before the cavity is
opened. 
          THE SPERMACETI CACHALOT.        97
  The substances taken from the head, congealing as
soon as cold, the compound is thrown in its crude state
into casks, and is purified at the end of the voyage
on shore. The oil is reduced from the blubber short-
ly after it is  on board, in " try  works," with which
the ships engaged in this  business are always pro-
vided.  There are two coppers  in the try works,
placed side by  side, near the fore hatch.  These,
with their furnaces and casing of brickwork, occupy
a space of five or six feet in length, by eight or nine
in breadth, (or fore and aft—and athwart  ship,) and
four  or five feet in height.   The cavity of the brick
arches sustaining the coppers and furnaces, forms a
water cistern, so that while the fire is burning, the
deck is secured from injury by the changing of the
water in the cistern twice  or thrice in every watch.
As the oil is extracted it is  thrown into coolers,
whence, after about twenty-four hours, it is trans-
ferred to  casks.   At  first the  coppers  are  heat-
ed with wood, but afterwards the cracklings or frit-
ters of the blubber, which  still contain some oil, are
employed as fuel, and produce a fierce fire.   About
three tons of oil are commonly obtained from a large
cachalot of this species; from  one to two tons are
procured from  a  small one.   A cargo,  produced
from one hundred cachalots, may be from 150 to 200
tons  of oil, besides the spermaceti, &c.
Vol. III.-----13 
CHAPTER IX.
          Genus—Whale; Balcena; L.

              GENERIC CHARACTERS.

   Whales  possess no true  teeth; the  upper jaw
resembles the keel of a vessel, or the roof of a house
reversed.  It is furnished on each  side  with trans-
verse horny layers  of a peculiar substance, called
Baleen,  which at  the edges  are  split  into  long
slender  fringes.   The spiracles or blowholes are
separated, and placed  about the middle of the su-
perior part of the head.  Some species have a dor-
sal fin; others merely a prominence.
            Species I.—The Whale.

               Balaena Mysticetus. L.

*ax«uv<* Arist. An. 1.  c. v. III. c. xvi. MucraxTss-, ib. III. c. x. JEi.
  Hist. an. v. c. iv.
Hvalfisch; Egede Greenland, 48.
La Baleine Franche; Bonnat. C£tol. 1.
The Common or Greenland Whale,- Scoresby Arct. Regions, i. 449.

  In attempting  to describe a creature so gigantic
and  surpassing in strength  as the whale, we  deeply
feel  the want of expressions  suitable  to  our pur-
pose, and vainly  endeavour to remove this difficulty 
 
 
e.         'J.
s   3=  7:
-"   =T   ^ 
 
THE WHALE.
99
 by resorting  to  comparisons scarcely less inade-
 quate, or conveying at best but vague and unsatis-
 factory ideas.   The  sublime in magnitude among
 organized  and  animated  beings,  the  whale is
 adapted in all his attributes  to the fathomless  and
 illimitable  waters he is  destined  to inhabit: con-
 trasted with other animals, his strength as far tran-
 scends their greatest exertions, as the irresistible
 heavings of the mighty deep exceed the harmless
 rippling of a sylvan stream. It is only by successive
 approaches and detailed examination, that we can
 arrive at a proper  conception of this animal, and,
 therefore,  the statements which are freest from at-
 tempts to emulate by ambitious style the magnitude
 of the subject, will  lead us to the most satisfactory
 conclusions.
   Having  never personally  enjoyed opportunities
 of studying the whale in his native floods, and hav-
 ing derived all that we know in relation thereto, from
 Scoresby, we should deem it injustice to the reader
 to give this account in any other language than that
 of the original.   We do this without reluctance, as
 our object is  to convey the most accurate know-
 ledge, rather than  to produce a work exclusively
 of our own composition,  and because we believe
 that where an original observer is competent to ex-
 press what he has seen, his remarks must have a
force  and value far  greater than can be imparted by
 another, however great  may be his  command of
language, or  his felicity of expression.   All that 
100
THE WHALE.
follows  in relation to the whale, is selected from
the different works of the accurate and philosophical
Scoresby.
                  The Whale.
   This valuable and  interesting animal, generally
called the whale by way of eminence, is the object of
our most important commerce to the polar seas—is
productive of more oil than any other of the cetacea,
and being less active, slower in its motion, and more
timid than any other of the kind, of similar or near-
ly similar magnitude, is more easily captured.
   Large as the size of the whale certainly is, it has
been  much over-rated; for such is the avidity with
which the human mind receives communications of
the marvellous, and such the interest attached to those
researches, which describe any remote and extraordi-
nary production of nature, that the judgment of the
traveller receives a bias, which, in cases of doubt, in-
duces  him to fix  upon  that extreme point in his
opinion, which  is  calculated to afford the greatest
surprise and interest.   Hence, if he  perceives an
animal remarkable for its minuteness, he is inclined
to compare it with something still more minute: if
remarkable for its bigness,  with  something fully
larger.   When  the  animal inhabits  an element
where he can not examine it, or is seen under any
circumstance  which prevent the possibility  of his
determining its  dimensions, his decision will cer-
tainly  be in that  extreme which  excites  the most 
THE WHALE.
101
interest.   Thus a mistake in the size of the whale
would easily be made; and  there is every proba-
bility of such an error  having been committed  two
or three centuries back, from which period some of
our present dimensions have been derived, when
we know  tHat  whales were  usually viewed  with
superstitious dread,  and their magnitude and powers
in consequence, highly exaggerated.  Besides, er-
rors  of this kind  having a tendency to increase,
rather than to correct one another, from the circum-
stance of each writer on the subject, being influenced
by a similar bias; the most gross and extravagant
results are at length obtained.  Thus authors, we
find, of the first respectability in the  present day,
give a length of 80 or 100 feet, or upwards, to the
mysticetus,-and remark with  unqualified assertion,
that when the captures were  less frequent, and the
animals had sufficient time to  attain  their  full
growth, specimens were found of 150 to 200 feet in
length, or even longer; and some ancient naturalists,
indeed, have gone so far, as to assert that whales
had been seen of above 900  feet in length.
   But whales in the present day are by no means
so bulky.   Of  332 individuals,  in the capture of
which, I  have  been personally concerned,  no one
I believe exceeded 60  feet in length; and the largest
I ever measured, was 58 feet from one extremity
to the other, being one of the longest to appearance,
which I ever saw. An uncommon whale, which was
caught near Spitsbergen, about twenty  years ago,
the whalebone of which measured almost fifteen feet, 
102
TILE WHALE.
 was not, 1 understand, so much as 70 feet in length;
 and the longest actual measurement that I have met
 with, or heard of, is given by Sir Charles Giesecke,
 who informs us, that in the Spring of 1813, a whale
 was killed at Godharn, of the length of 67 feet; these
 however are very uncommon instances.  I therefore
 conceive that 60 feet may be considered as the size
 of the largest animals of this species, and 65 feet in
 length as a magnitude which very rarely occurs.
   Yet I believe that whales now occur  of as large
 dimensions as at any former period, since the com-
 mencement of the whale fishery.  This  point I en-
 deavoured to prove, from various historical records,
 in a paper, read  before the  Wernerian Society, on
 the 19th day of December, 1818, and since inserted
 in the  Edinburgh  Philosophical Journal,  No. 1.
 p. 83.
   In this paper,  I brought forward the  authorities
 rjf Zorgdrager, the writer of an account of the whale
 fishery, and one of the  early superintendents of the
 Dutch northern fisheries, together with opinions or
 remarks of Captain Anderson, Gray, Heley,  and
 others, who were among the earliest of the English
 whalers, which satisfactorily prove, that the average
 and  largest produce of a whale  in  oilj was  not
 greater  near  two hundred years  ago, than it is at
the present time; and to these are  added the testi-
monies of Captain Jenkinson and Edge, as to the
length  of the whale, which  likewise corresponds
pretty nearly with  the  measurements I have my-
self made. 
THE WHALE.
103
  Jenkinsoh, in his voyage to Russia, performed in
1557* saw a number of whales, some of which, b^
estimation, were 60 feet long, and are described as
being " very monstrous."  Edge, who was one of
the Russia Company's chief and  earliest whale
fishers, having been ten years to Spitsbergen,  prior
to the year 1625, calls the whale  " a sea beaste of
hughe  bigness,  about 65 foot long, and 35 foot
thick," having whalebone ten or eleven feet  long,
(a common size at present) and yielding about 100
hogsheads of oil; and in a descriptive plate, accom-
panying Captain Edge's paper on the fishery, pub-
lished by Purchas in  1625, is a sketch of a whale,
with this remark subjoined—" a whale is ordinari-
ly about 60 foot long."
  Hence, I conceive, we may satisfactorily conclude
that whales of as large size are found now, as  at
any former period, since the Spitsbergen fishery was
discovered; and I may also remark,  that where any
respectable authority affords actual measurement ex-
ceeding 70 feet, it will always be found that the speci-
men referred to, was not one of the mysticetus kind,
but of B. Physalis or the B. Musculus animals, which
considerably  exceed in length any of the  common
whales that I have either heard of, or met with.
  When fully grown, therefore, the length of the
whale  may be stated  as varying from 50 to 65,
and rarely, if ever, reaching 70 feet;  and its greatest
circumference from 30 to 40 feet.  It is  thickest
a little behind the fins, or in  the middle between 
101
THE WHALE.
 the anterior and posterior extremes of the animal;
 from  whence  it gradually  tapers, in  a conical
 form,  towards the tail, and slightly towards the
 head.   Its  form is cylindrical  from the neck to
 within ten feet of  the  tail, beyond which, it  be-
 comes  somewhat quadrangular, the greatest ridge
 being  upwards, or  on the back,  and running back-
 ward  nearly across the middle of the tail.  The
 head has somewhat of a triangular shape.  The
 under  part, the arched outline of which is given by
 the jaw bones, is  flat,  and  measures 16 to 20 feet
 in length, and 10 to 12 feet in breadth.   The lips,
 extending 15 or 20 feet in length, and five or six in
 height, and forming the cavity  of the mouth, are
 attached to the under jaw, and  rise from the jaw-
 bones,  at an angle of about 80 degrees, having the
 appearance, when viewed in  front, of the letter U.
 The upper jaw, including the crown bone or skull,
 is bent down at the extremity, so  as to shut the front
 and upper parts of  the cavity of the mouth, and is
 overlapped by the lips in a squamous manner at the
 sides.
  When the  mouth is open, it presents a cavi-
 ty as large as  a room, and capable of containing a
 merchant  ship's jolly  boat, full  of men,  being six
or eight feet wide, ten or twelve feet high, (in front)
and fifteen or sixteen feet Ions.
  The fins, two in  number, are placed between one
third and two-fifths of  the animal, from the snout,
and about two feet  behind the angle of the mouth; 
THE WHALE.
105
they are from seven to nine feet in length, and four
or five in breadth.  The part by  which they are
attached  to  the  body is somewhat elliptical, and
about two feet in diameter; the side which strikes
the water is nearly flat.   The  articulation being
spherical, the fins are  capable  of motion in any
direction; but, from the tension of the flesh and skin
below, they can  not be raised  above the horizontal
position.  Hence,  the account given by some natu-
ralists, that the whale supports its young by its fin on
its back, must be erroneous. The fins after death are
always hard and stiff; but in the living animal, it is
presumed, from  the nature of the internal structure,
that they are capable of considerable flexion.   The
whale has no dorsal fin.   The tail, comprising in a
single surface 80 or 100 square feet, is a formidable
instrument of  motion and defence.   Its length is
only five or six feet; but its width is from 18 to 24
or 26 feet.  Its  position is horizontal.   In its form
it is flat and semilunar; indented in the middle; the
two lobes  somewhat  pointed, and turned a little
backward.  Its motions  are  rapid and universal;
its strength immense.
   The eyes are situated in the sides of the  head,
about a foot, obliquely, above and behind the angle
of the mouth.  They are remarkably small, in pro-
portion to the bulk of the animal's body, being little
larger than those of an ox.   The whale  has no ex-
ternal ear; nor can any orifice for the  admission of
sound be discovered until the skin is removed.
   V0L.  hi.---14 
106               THE  WHALE
  On the most elevated  part of the head, about six-
teen feet from the anterior extremity of the jaw, are
situated two  blow-holes, or spiracles, consisting of
twro  longitudinal apertures, six or eight inches  in
length.  These are the pyoper nostrils of the whale;
a moist vapour, mixed with mucous, is  discharged
from them when the animal breathes; but  no water
accompanies  it, unless an expiration of  the breath
be made under the surface.
  The mouth, in place of teeth,  contains two ex-
tensive  rows of fins or whalebone, which  are  sus-
pended from the sides of the crown bone.  These
series of fius are generally curved longitudinally,
although they are sometimes  straight, and give an
arched  form to the  roof of the mouth.   They are
covered immediately  by the lips attached to  the
lower jaw,  and enclose the tongue between  their
lower extremities, each  series, or " side of bone,"
as the whale fishers term it, consists of  upward of
300 laminae;* the longest are near the middle, from
whence they gradually  diminish away to  nothing,
at each  extremity; fifteen feet is the greatest length
of the whalebone; but ten or eleven feet  is the ave-
rage size, and thirteen feet is a magnitude seldom
met  with.  The greatest breadth, which is at the
gum, is  ten  or twelve inches.  The laminae, com-
posing the two  series of bone, are ranged side by
side  two-thirds of an  inch  apart,  (thickness of the
• In a very small whale the number was 316 or 320. 
THE  WHALE.
107
blade included,)  and resemble a frame of saws in
a saw-mill,  the interior edges  are  covered with a
fringe of hair, and the exterior edges of every blade,
excepting a few at each extremity of the series, is
curved and flattened down, so as to present a smooth
surface to the lips.   In some whales a curious hol-
low on one side,  and ridge on the other, occurs in
many of the central blades of whalebone, at regular
intervals of six or seven inches.  May not this
irregularity, like the rings  in the horn of the  ox,
which  they resemble, afford an intimation of the age
of the whale?  if so, twice the number of running
feet in the longest lamina of whalebone, in the head
of a whale not  full grown, would represent its age
in years.  In the youngest whales,  called suckers,
the whalebone is only a few inches long; when  the
length reaches six feet or upwards, the whale is said
to be size.   The colour of the whalebone is brown-
ish  black, or bluish black.   In some animals it is
striped  longitudinally with  white.   When newly
cleaned, the surface  exhibits  a fine play of  colour.
A large whale  sometimes affords a ton and a half
of whalebone.  If the il sample blade," that is,
the largest lamina in the series, weigh seven pounds,
the  whole produce may be estimated at a ton;  and
so on  in proportion.   The whalebone is inserted
into the crown  bone,  in a sort of rabbit.  All the
blades in the same series are connected together by
the  gum, in which the thick ends are inserted.  This
substance (the gums) is white, fibrous, tender, and 
£08              THE WHALE.
tasteless; it cuts like cheese.  It has the appearance
of the interior or kernel of the cocoa nut.   The
tongue occupies a large portion of the cavity of the
mouth: and the arch formed by the whalebone, is ca-
pable of protrusion, being fixed from  root to lip, to
the fat extending between the jaw  bones.
   A slight beard, consisting of a few short scattered
white hairs,  surmounts the  anterior extremity of
both jaws.
   The throat is remarkably straight.
   Two paps in the  female, afford the means of
rearing the young.   They are situated  on the ab-
domen, one on each side of the pudendum, and are
two feet apart.   They appear not  to be capable of
protrusion, beyond the length of a  few inches.   In
the dead animal they are always found retracted.
   The milk of a whale, resembles that of a quadru-
ped, in its appearance.  It is said to be  rich and
well flavoured.  The vent is about six inches be-
hind the  pudendum of the female; but in the male,
it is further back.
   The colour of the mysticetus is velvet black, gray,
(composed of dots of blackish  brown  on a  white
ground,) and white with a  tinge of yellow.   The
back, most of the upper jaw, and part of the lower
jaw,  together with  the fins  and  tail,  are black.
The  tongue, the  lower part of the under jaw and
lips,  sometimes a little of the upper jaw, at the ex-
tremity, and a portion  of the belly are white; and
the eye-lids,  the junction of the tail with the body, 
                  THE  WHALE.              109
a portion in the axillsa of the  fins, &c. are gray.   I
have seen whales, that were all over piebald.   The
older animals contain  the most gray  and  white;
under size whales, are altogether of a bluish black,
and suckers of pale bluish or bluish gray colour.
  The skin of the body is slightly furrowed, like
the water-lines on coarse laid paper.   On the tail-
fins,  &c. it is smooth.  The cuticle, or that part of
the skin which can be pulled off in sheets, after it
has been a little dried in the  air, or particularly in
frost, is not thicker than parchment.  The rete mu-
cosum in  adults, is  about three  fourths of an inch
in thickness over most parts of the body; in suckers
nearly two inches; but on the under side of the fins,
on the inside of the lips, and on the surface of the
tongue,  it is much thinner.  This part of the integu-
ments is generally of the same colour throughout its
thickness.  The fibres, of which it is composed, are
perpendicular to the surface of the body: under this
lies the true skin, which is white  and tough.  As
it imperceptibly  becomes impregnated with oil, and
passes gradually  into the form of blubber, its real
thickness can not easily  be stated.  The most com-
pact part, perhaps, may be  a  quarter of an inch
thick.
  Immediately beneath the skin, lies  the blubber
or fat, encompassing the whole body of the animal,
together with the fins and tail. Its colour is yellow-
ish white, yellow or red.  Iu the very young ani-
mals, it is always  yellowish white.   In some  old 
  1 10               THE WHALE.
  animals it resembles in colour the substance of the
  salmon.  It swims in water.   Its  thickness  all
  round the body, is eight or ten or twenty inches, va-
  rying in different parts as well as in different indi-
  viduals.  The lips are composed almost entirely of
  blubber, and yield from one to two tons of pure oil
  each.   The tongue is chiefly composed  of a soft
  kind  of fat, that affords less oil than any other blub-
  ber; in  the centre of the tongue, and towards the
  root, the fat is intermixed with fibres of a muscular
  substance.   The under jaw, excepting the two jaw
  bones, consists almost wholly  of fat, and the crown
  bone possesses a considerable coating of it; the fins
 are principally blubber, tendons and bones, and the
 tail possesses a thin stratum of  blubber.  The oil
 appears to be retained in the blubber in minute cells,
 connected together by a strong reticulated combina-
 tion of tendinous fibres.  These fibres being condens-
 ed at  the surface, appear  to form the substance of
 the skin.   The oil is expelled  when heated, and in
 a great measure discharges itself out of the henks,
 whenever putrefaction in the fibrous parts of the
 blubber  takes place.  The blubber and the whale-
 bone are the parts of the whale, to which the atten-
 tion of the fisher is directed.  The flesh and bones,
 excepting occasionally the jaw bone, are rejected.
 The blubber, in its fresh  state, is without any un-
 pleasant smell,  and it is not  until after the termi-
nation  of the voyage, when the cargo is unstowed,
that a Greenland ship becomes disagreeable. 
THE WHALE.
11.1
  Four tons of blubber, by measure, generally af-
fords three tons of oil,* but the blubber of a sucker
contains a very small portion.   Whales have been
caught that afforded nearly thirty  tons  of pure oil,
and whales  yielding twenty tons of oil, are by no
means numerous.   The quantity of oil, yielded by
a whale,  generally bears a certain proportion to
the length of its longest blade of whalebone.
  The average quantity is expressed in the follow-
ing table. -\
Length of												
whalebone	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
in feet.												
Oil yielded												
in tons.	ii	2*	2f	3*	4	5	6*	8*	11	13£	17	21
  Though this statement, on the average, be exceed-
ingly near the truth, yet exceptions sometimes oc-
cur.  A whale of 2|  feet  bone, for instance, has
been  known  to produce  near ten tons  of oil, and
another of twelve feet bone only nine tons.  Such
instances, however, are very uncommon.
  * The ton or tun of oil, is 252 gallons, wine measure? it
weighs, at temperature 60°, 19331b. 12oz. 14dr. avoirdupois.
  t This table is somewhat different  from that given in
Wernerian Memoirs, (vol. I. p. 582,)  an increased number
of observations having enabled me to improve it. 
112
THE  WHALE.
   A stout whale of sixty  feet in length, is of the
enormous weight of seventy tons; the blubber weighs
about thirty tons, the bones of the head, whalebone,
fins, and tail, eight or ten; carcass thirty or thirty-two.
   The flesh of the young whale is of a red colour;
and when cleared of fat, broiled  and seasoned with
pepper and salt, does not eat unlike coarse beef;
that of the old  whale,  approaches to black, and is
exceedingly coarse.  An immense bed of muscles,
surrounding  the body, is  appropriated chiefly  to
the movements of the tail.  The tail consists princi-
pally of two reticulated beds of sinewy fibres, com-
pactly interwoven, and containing very little oil. In
the central bed, the fibres  run in all  directions; in
the other,  which encompasses the central one in a
thinner stratum, they are arranged in regular order.
These substances are extensively used, particularly
in Holland, in the manufacture of glue.
   Most  of the bones  of the whale are  very po-
rous,  and contain large quantities of fine oil.   The
jaw bones, which measure twenty to twenty-five
feet in  length,  are  often  taken care  of, princi-
pally on account of the oil that drains out of them,
when they come into a  warm climate.  When ex-
hausted of oil, they readily swim in water. The ex-
ternal surface of the most porous bones is compact
and hard; the ribs are  pretty nearly solid; but the
crowu bone is almost as much honey-combed as the
jaw bones.  The number of ribs, according to Sir
Charles  Giesecke, is thirteen on each side.   The 
THE  WHALE.
113
bones of the fins are analogous,  both in proportion
and number  to those of the fingers of the human
hand.   From this  peculiarity  of structure, the fins
have been  denominated by  Dr.  Fleming, " swim-
ming paws."  The posterior extremity of the whale,
however, is a real tail; the termination of the spine,
or os coccygis, running through the middle of it, al-
most to the edge.
   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
a suckers," may indeed be hoisted on deck; and it
is in such cases only that I have had a chance of
inspecting  them entirely out of the water.  One of
these  having been  taken,  the  head  was hoisted
aboard in a mass, and the body, when stripped of the
fat, was so small as to be quite within the power of
the tackles. Some new facts, respecting the anatomy
of the whale, arose out of the  investigation of this,
and another of the  species,  killed in the summer of
1821, which I shall attempt to describe.  The follow-
ing measurements and weight, it must be observed,
all refer to a sucking whale, that at the time of cap-
ture, was under maternal protection, but the other
details in general may be considered as applying to
the whole species of the Balsena Mysticetus.
  This whale, though a f6 sucker," was nineteen
feet in length, and  fourteen feet  five inches in cir-
cumference, at the  thickest part of the body.   The
  Vol. III.----15 
114
THE  WHALE.
external skin, consisting of cuticle and rete raucosura,
was on the body an inch  and three  quarters thick,
being about twice the thickness of the same mem-
branes in a full grown animal. The blubber, on an
average, was five inches in thickness.  The largest
of  the whalebone measured only  twelve  inches;
about one  half of which was imbedded in the gum.
The external part of these fringes, not exceeding six
inches in length, did not seem sufficient  to enable the
little whale yet to catch, by filtration out of the sea,
the shrimps and other insects on which the animal,
in a more advanced stage, is dependent for its nourish-
ment: maternal assistance and protection, therefore,
appeared  to have been essential  for  its support.
The muscles about the neck, appropriated to the
movements of the jaws, formed a bed, if extended, of
nearly five feet broad, and a foot thick.  The cen-
tral part of the diaphragm was two inches in thick-
ness.   The two principal arteries in the neck  (the
carotid,) were so large as to admit a man's hand and
arm.
  The brain lies in a small cavity in the upper  and
back part  of the skull.  The cavity  included with-
in the pia  mater, exclusive of the foramen magnum,
measured only eight inches by five. The upper  part
of the brain lies very near the surface  of the skull.
The convolutions of the cortical  substance  lie in
beautiful fringed  folds,  attached  to the medullary
portion, which is white, as in the human brain. The
general appearance of the brain is not unlike that of
the other mammalia,  but its smallness is remarka- 
                    THE WHALE. ,            115
ble.  The quantity of brain in a human subject  of
140 or  160 pounds weight, is, according to Haller,
4 pounds; in this whale, of 11,200 pounds, or se-
venty times  the weight of a man, the brain was
only 3 pounds 12 ounces.  According to Cuvier, the
brain in man varies  from one  thirty-first to one
twenty-second  part  of  his  weight;* whereas,  in
this animal, the proportion  of brain was only a three
thousandth part.
  The heart, which is of an oblong form, much com-
pressed, resembles in  colour and  substance, the
heart of an ox.  The breadth of it, in this specimen,
was 29  inches, the height 12, the thickness 9, and
the weight of it 641bs.  Diameter of the aorta about
6 inches.
  Large as the  whale is in  bulk, the throat is but
narrow.  In this animal the diameter of the oesopha-
gus, when fully distended, was scarcely 2£ inches,
with difficulty admitting my hand.
  The epiglottis is a beautiful valve, formed almost
like the termination of the proboscis of an  elephant.
Though the larynx in the whale has a free commu-
nication with the mouth, as  in quadrupeds, yet the
mysticetus does not appear to have any voice.   In
  •Lecons d'Anat. Comp. ii. p. 149.   The proportion the
human brain bears to the weight of the body, appears to be,
on an  average, less than is stated by Cuvier.  According to
Haller, the proportion in a man of 160lb. weight is one-for-
tieth;  in a man of 140lbs., one-thirty-fifth, in a child six
years old, one-twenty-second. 
116
THE WHALE.
other cetacea, however, this is not always the case;
some of the dolphins, in particular,  having been
heard to emit  a shrill sound, which  in the beluga
may be heard before the animal arises to the surface
of the water.*
   The external blowholes or spiracles, were, in the
sucking  whale, four inches in length; in the full
grown animal, they form two  curved slits, above
ten inches long.  In passing downward through the
blubber,  the blowholes, which at the surface  are
nearly longitudinal, as in the annexed figure, a, a,
                    Posterior.

                  '\r
                    Anterior.

twist into a semicircular  and  transverse  position,
in the form of the dotted line b, b, then penetrating
the skull, they proceed backward and downward in
two conical parallel canals, until they open near
the back of the under part of the skull, where they
inosculate and  form a single membranous sac, with-
in a few inches of the epiglottis.  The first impres-
sion of each blowhole on the upper part of the skull,
is marked as in the following cut, (representing the
upper surface  of the anterior  part of the whale's
skull, the skin and fat being removed,)  by an ob-
long cavity, b,  b,
  * Captain Parry's Voyage for the discovery of a North
West passage, p. 35. 
THE WHALE.
117
which is the seat of a muscular substance attached
by its anterior extremity to the surface of the skull,
and also attached, by its posterior and  inferior ex-
tremity, to the  interior of the skull, at  some depth
in the blowing canal, a, a.   The part of this mus-
cle that penetrates  the bony canal, is of a conical
form, the apex downward,  or within, represented at
b, in the annexed figure of a vertical  section of the
skull;
Anterior portion.
so that,  when this  interior  portion contracts, the
muscular cone b, is drawn tight into the orifice, and
completely closes the breathing canal a, a; while,
on the other hand, the action of the external part of
the muscle draws the conical plug forward and up-
ward, and affords a free passage for the air in respi-
ration.   This beautiful structure it  is, (aided, per-
haps, by the  epiglottis,)  that  enables the  animal, 
118
THE  WHALE.
under the immense pressure to which it is sometimes
exposed, to exclude the gea-water from its  lungs.
This  pressure, under some depths  to which the
whale is known to descend, is upwards of a ton upon
every square inch; yet, so far from the water being
forced down the spiracles, the enormous load serves
only more effectually to press down, and close the
valves that defend the passages to the lungs.
  The whale has nW external ear, and the opening
of the passage to this organ is so small as not to be
easily  discovered.   In the  sucking  whale, it was
only one-sixth of an  inch in diameter.  An elegant
contrivance appears in the meatus auditorius exter-
nus for protecting the ear against pressure from with-
out.   It consists of a little plug, like  the end of the
finger, inserted into  a corresponding cavity, in the
midst of the canal, by a slight motion of which the
opening can either be effectually shut for the exclu-
sion of the sea-water, or opened for the  admission
of sound.
  In  the sucking whale,  the skull or crown bone
was six feet in length, from the anterior extremity
to the condyles.   In a full grown animal, in which
the whalebone was ten feet four inches, the length
of the skull, measured along the upper and convex
side of the curve,  was twenty feet eight inches, the
cavity on the crown  of the same, occupied by the
muscular valve of the blow-holes, was 14 inches
wide, and 24 inches  long. 
THE WHALE.
119
   The whale being very nearly of the same specific
 gravity as sea-water, (some few individuals sinking,
 and others barely floating when dead) the weight
 may  be calculated with  considerable  precision.
 The body of the whale may be  divided into three
 segments, forming tolerably regular geometric solids.
 First; the  head a parabolic conoid, which in the
 sucking-whale is four feet in diameter, and five and
 a half feet in height; its solid contents about thirty-
 four and a half cubic feet.   Secondly; the middle
 segment, extending from the head  to  the  thickest
 part of the body: this is a frustum of a cone in the
 sucking-whale,  three feet  in length,  and four to
 five feet  in diameter, producing a solid  content of
 forty-eight cubic feet.  Thirdly; the posterior seg-
 ment, extending from the greatest circumference to
 the tail:  this segment is  a paraboloid or parabolic
 conoid, with its  smaller end truncated.   Its length
 in the sucking-whale is eight feet; its diameters one
 and five feet; and its solid contents eighty-one and a
 half cubic feet.  And to these products maybe add-
 ed  about ten cubic feet,  the estimated bulk of the
 fins and tail, which make an amount of  174 cubic
 feet; this sum, divided by 35, the number of cubic
 feet of sea-water in the  Greenland ocean, in a ton
 weight, gives the weight of the animal five  tons
 within a cubic foot.
  One of the largest mysticete, of sixty feet  in
length, the head twenty  feet in  length* by  twelve
feet in diameter, the middle  section six feet by  thir 
120
THE  WHALE.
. teen diameter, the third section  twenty-six feet in
 length, by twelve and two feet diameter, will appear
 (if calculated the same way with an  allowance of
 five tons for the fins and  tail)  to be of the pro-
 digious weight of  114 tons!  But as the last sec-
 tion is somewhat  more slender  than the  body to
 which it is referred, this calculation may be a little
 in excess.
   The largest animals of this species may, however,
 I conceive, be  safely stated at  a hundred tons in
 weight; and an ordinary full grown  animal at  se-
 venty tons.
   The most useful and  ennobling view of natural
 history is, unquestionably, that which gives us the
 most exalted conceptions of the wisdom, power, and
 goodness of  the Creator.   And  the branch of this
 science, that is in the highest degree  calculated to
 assist  us  in  tracing  " the works  of Nature  up to
 Nature's God," is  probably the physiology of ani-
 mals.  In  every genus of animals we discover pe-
 culiar marks of  adaptation  for their economy  or
 mode of life, and an endless variety of inimitable
 contrivances for accomplishing this adaptation.
   The whale, which is a mammiferous animal, and
 closely allied,  in its anatomical  structure  to the
 class of quadrupeds, affords, in the modification of
 the parts and principles of land animals, for apply-
ing them to a tribe inhabiting the sea, a great num-
ber of those striking displays of wisdom and power,
the very contemplation of which is  calculated  to 
THE  WHALE.
121
elevate in no inconsiderable degree, our concep-
tions of the Great Supreme.  The mysticetus feeds
on the smallest insects; its capacious mouth, with
the vast fringes of whalebone, which is a most ad-
mirable filter, enables it  to  receive some  tons of
water at a mouthful, and to separate every substance
from it, of the size of a pin's head  and upwards.
The physalis feeds on herrings, mackarel and other
fishes of a similar kind; its whalebone therefore is
shorter, stronger, and less compact than that of the
mysticetus, and the filter  formed by it less perfect.
  As the whale  must rise to the surface of  the sea
to breathe, its tail is  placed horizontally, to enable
it to ascend and  descend more quickly; and  its nos-
trils, or blowholes,  instead of being placed at the
snout, are generally on the most elevated part of
the head, that they may be readily lifted clear of
the water.
  When the whale  descends to the depths of the
ocean, it becomes exposed to  an enormous pressure
from the superincumbent water.   This pressure is
sufficient to force the water through the pores of the
hardest wood; yet it is effectually resisted by the
skin of the whale, though it is remarkably soft and
flexible.   To exclude the water from  the  lungs,
which would occasion suffocation if admitted, the
blowholes are defended by the peculiar valves that
have been already described.
  The variety discovered in the structure of whales,
is by  no means one of the least interesting parts of
  Vol. III.-----16 
122               THE WHALE.
their  physiology.   In other  classes  of animals,
whose habits are similar, we often find, that each
organ is the same as the corresponding one, in al-
most all the species of the same genus,  or even of
the same  order;  excepting when  their peculiar
habits, or necessities, require a modification of the
general structure or principle.  But in whales, as
if it were intended not only to exhibit the match-
less wisdom of the Creator, but, to show that his
resources are unlimited, the structure of the breath-
ing canals is varied  in the different genera of ce-
taceous animals, and a number of contrivances alike
extraordinary, equally beautiful,  and equally effi-
cient, are adapted for performing the same office. 
THE WHALE.
123

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  The whale seems dull of hearing.   A noise in
the air, such as that produced by a person shouting,
is not noticed by it, though at the  distance only of
a ship's length; but a  very slight splashing iu  the
water in  calm weather  excites  its attention, and
alarms it. 
124
THE WHALE.
   Its sense of seeing is  acute, whales are observed
to discover one another in clear water, when under
the surface, at an amazing distance.  When at the
surfaee, however, they do not see far.
   They have no voice; but in breathing or blowing,
they make a  very loud noise.   The vapour they
discharge is ejected to the  height  of some yards,
and appears  at  a distance, like a puff of  smoke.
When the animals are wounded, it is often stained
with  blood; and, on the approach of death, jets of
blood are sometimes discharged alone.  They blow
strongest, densest, and  loudest, when " running."
When in a state of alarm, or when they first ap-
pear at the surface, after being a long time down,
they  respire  or  blow about four or five times  a
minute.
   The whale being somewhat lighter than the me-
dium in which it swims, can remain at the  surface
of the sea, with its  " crown," in which the blow-
holes are situated, and a considerable extent of the
back,  above  water, without any  effort or motion.
To descend, however, requires an exertion.  The
proportion of the whale that appears above water,
when alive, or when  recently killed, is  probably
not a twentieth part of the animal; but within a day
after death, when the  process of putrefaction com-
mences, the whale swells to an enormous size, until
at least a third of the carcass appears above water,
and sometimes the body is burst by the force of air
generated within. 
THE WHALE.
125
  By means of the tail principally, the whale ad-
vances through the water.  The greatest velocity
is produced by powerful strokes against the water,
impressed alternately upward and downward; but a
slower motion, it is believed, is elegantly produced,
by cutting the water laterally and obliquely down-
ward, in a manner similar to that in which a boat is
forced along, with  a single oar, by the operation of
skulling. The fins are generally stretched out in an
horizontal position; their chief application seems to
be, the balancing of the animal, as the moment life is
extinct, it always falls over on its side, or turns upon
its back.  They appear also to be used in  bearing
off their young, in turning, and  giving a direction
to the velocity produced by the tail.
  Bulky as the whale is,  and inactive, or indeed
clumsy as it appears to be, one might imagine that
all its motions would  be sluggish, and its  greatest
exertions productive of but little celerity.  The fact,
however, is the  reverse.   A  whale  extended mo-
tionless at the surface of  the  sea, can sink in the
space of five  or six  seconds  or less, beyond the
reach of its human enemies.  Its velocity along the
surface, or  perpendicularly, or  obliquely down-
ward, is the same. I have observed a whale de-
scending after I had  harpooned it, to the depth of
400 fathoms, with  the average velocity of seven or
eight miles per hour.  The usual rate at which
whales  swim, however, even  when they are on
their passage from one situation to another, seldom 
1S6
THE WHALE.
 exceeds four miles an hour; and though, when urged
 by the sight of any enemy, or alarmed by the stroke
 of a harpoon, their extreme velocity may be at the
 rate of eight or nine miles an hour; yet we find this
 speed  never continues longer than for a few min-
 utes, before it relaxes to almost one half; hence, for
 the  space of  a few minutes, they are capable of
 darting through the water, with the velocity almost
 of the fastest  ship under  sail, and  of  ascending
 with such rapidity as to leap entirely out of the
 water.  This  feat  they  sometimes perform  as an
 amusement  apparently, to the high admiration of
 the distant  spectators; but  to the no small terror
 of the  inexperienced fishers,  who even under such
 circumstances, are often ordered, by the fool-hardy
 harpooner, to " pull away," to the attack.   Some-
 times,  the whales  throw themselves into a  per-
 pendicular posture, with their heads downwards,
 and  rearing their tails on high  in the  air,  beat
 the water with  awful violence.   In both  these
 cases,  the sea  is thrown into foam, and the air
 filled with vapours: the  noise in  calm weather is
 heard to a great distance; and the concentric waves,
 produced  by the concussions on the water, are com-
 muicated abroad to a considerable extent.   Some-
times the  whale shakes its tremendous tail in the
air, which, cracking like a whip, resounds to the
distance of two or three miles.
   When it retires from the surface, it  first lifts its
head, then  plunging  it under water, elevates its 
THE WHALE.
127
back, like the segment  of a  sphere, deliberately
rounds it away towards the extremity, throws its
tail out of the water, and then disappears.
  In their usual conduct, whales remain at the sur-
face to breathe, about two minutes, seldom longer;
during which time,  they "blow"  eight or nine
times,  and then descend  for an interval usually of
five or ten minutes,  but sometimes, when feed-
ing, fifteen or twenty.  The  depth  to which they
commonly descend, is not known, though, from the
eddy  occasionally observed on the water, it is evi-
dently at times, only trifling.  But when struck, the
quantity  of line they sometimes take out of the boats,
in a perpendicular descent, affords a good measure
of the depth.   By this rule, they have been known
to descend to  the depth of an English mile, and with
such velocity, that instances have occurred, in  which
whales have been drawn  up by the line attached,
from a depth  of 700 or 800 fathoms, and have been
found to have broken their jaw-bones, and some-
times  crown-bone, by the blow struck against the
bottom.  Some persons  are of opinion, that whales
can remain under  a field of ice, or at the bottom of
the sea  in shallow water, when undisturbed,  for
many hours at a time.  Whales are seldom found
sleeping, yet, in calm weather, among ice, instances
occasionally occur.
  The food of the whale consists of various species
of  actiniae, cliones,  sepi*,  medusae,  caneri, and 
128
THE WHALE.
 helices, or, at least, some of these genera  are  al-
 ways to be seen, wherever any tribe of whales  is
 found stationary and feeding. In the dead animals,
 however, in the very few instances, in which I have
 been enabled to open their  stomachs, squillae  or
 shrimps, were the only substances discovered.   In
 the mouth  of a whale just killed, I once  found a
 quantity of the same kind of insect.
   When the whale feeds, it swims with considera-
 ble velocity below the surface of the sea, with  its
jaws widely extended.  A stream of water conse-
 quently enters its capacious mouth, and along with
 it large quantities of water insects; the water escapes
 again at the  sides; but the food is entangled and
 sifted, as it were, by  the whalebone, which, from
 its  compact arrangement, and  the  thick  internal
 covering of hair, does not allow a particle the size
 of the smallest grain to escape.
  There does not seem to be sufficient dissimilarity
 in the form arid appearance of the mysticete found
 in the polar seas, to entitle them to a division into
 other species;  yet such is the difference observed in
 the proportions of these animals, that they may  be
well  considered  as sub-species  or  varieties.   In
some of the mysticete,  the head measures four tenths
of the whole length of the animal; in others, scarce-
ly three tenths; in some the circumference is up-
wards of seven tenths of the length, in others less
than six tenths, or little more than one half. 
                   THE WHALE.               129
   The sexual intercourse of whales, is often ob-
 served about the latter end of summer; and females,
 with cubs  or suckers along  with them,  being most
 commonly met  with in the spring of the year, the
 time of their  bringing forth, it  is presumed, is in
 February or March; and their  period of gestation
 about nine or ten  months.   In the latter end of
 April, 1811, a sucker was taken by a Hull whaler,
 to which the  funis  umbilicalis was still attached.
 The whale has one young at a birth.   Instances of
 two being seen  with a female are very rare.  The
 young one, at the time of parturition, is said to be
 at least ten, if not fourteen feet in length.  It goes un-
 der  the protection of its mother for probably a year,
 or more; or until, by the evolution of the whalebone,
 it is enabled to procure its own nourishment. Sup-
 posing the criterion before mentioned,  of the notches
 in the whalebone being indicative  of the number of
 years growth, to be correct, then it would appear
 that the whale reaches the magnitude called size,
 that  is,  with a six feet  length of whalebone, in
 twelve years, and attains its  full growth  at the  age
 of twenty or twenty-five.   Whales, doubtless, live
 to a great age.   The marks of age are, increase in
 the  quantity of gray colour in the  skin, and a
 change to a yellowish tinge of the white parts about
 the  head; a decrease in the quantity of oil yielded
by a certain weight of blubber; an increase of hard-
ness in the blubber, and in the thickness and strength
  Tol. III.—17 
130
THE WHALE.
of the ligamentous fibres of which it is partly com-
posed.
  The maternal affection of the  whale,  which, in
other respects, is apparently a stupid animal, is strik-
ing and interesting, the cub, being insensible to dan-
ger, is easily harpooned; when the tender attachment
of the mother is so manifested as not unfrequently to
bring her within the reach of the whalers.   Hence,
though a cub is of little value,  seldom  producing
above a ton of oil, and often less, yet it is sometimes
strack as a  snare for its mother.  In this case she
joins it at the surface of the water, whenever it has
occasion to rise for  respiration;  encourages it to
swim off; assists its flight,  by taking it under her
fin, and  seldom deserts it while life  remains.  She
is then dangerous to approach; but affords frequent
opportunities for attack.  She loses all regard  for
her own safety, in anxiety for the preservation of
her  young;  dashes through the  midst of her ene-
mies; despises the danger that  threatens her;  and
even voluntarily remains with her offspring, after
various attacks on herself, from the harpoons of  the
fishers.   In June, 1811, one of my  harpooners
struck a sucker, with the hope of its leading to  the
capture  of the mother.   Presently she arose close
by the  "fast boat," and seizing the  young one,
dragged  about a hundred fathoms of line with re-
markable force  and velocity.  Again she  arose to
the surface; darted furiously to and fro; frequently 
THE  WHALE.
131
stopped  short, or suddenly changed her direction,
and gave every possible intimation of extreme agony.
For a length of time she continued thus to act,
though closely pursued by the boats; and, inspired
with courage and resolution by the concern for her
offspring, seemed regardless of the danger which sur-
rounded her. At length one of the boats approached
so near that a harpoon was hove at her.   It hit, but
did not attach itself.  A second harpoon was struck;
this  also failed to penetrate; but a third was more
effectual, and held.   Still she did not attempt' to
escape;  but  allowed other boats  to approach;  so
that,  in  a few minutes, three more harpoons were
fastened; and, in the course of an  hour afterwards,
she was  killed.
  There is something extremely painful in the de-
struction of a whale, when thus evincing a degree
of affectionate regard for its offspring, that would do
honour to the superior intelligence of human beings;
yet the object of the adventure,  the value of the
prize, the joy of the  capture, can not be sacrificed
to feelings of compassion.  Whales, though  often
found in great numbers  together, can  scarcely be
said to be gregarious; found most generally solitary,
or in pairs, excepting when drawn to the same spot,
by the attraction of an abundance of palatable food,
or a choice situation of the ice.
  The superiority of the sexes, in point of numbers,
seems to be in favour of the male.   Of 124 whales
which  have been taken near Spitzbergen, in eight 
132
THE WHALE.
years, in ships commanded by myself, 70 were males,
and 54 were females, being in the proportion of five to
four nearly. The mysticetus occurs most abundant-
ly in the frozen seas of Greenland and Davis's Strait
—in the bays of Baffin and Hudson—in the sea to
the northward of Behring's Strait, and along some
parts of the northern shores of Asia, and probably
America.  It is never met with in the German Ocean,
and rarely within 200 leagues of the British coast;
but along  the coasts of Africa and South America,
it is met with periodically in considerable numbers,
In these regions it is attacked and captured by the
Southern  British and American Whalers, as well
as by some of tfye people inhabiting the coasts, to
the neighbourhood of which it resorts.  Whether
this whale is .precisely of the same kind as that of
Spitzbergen and Greenland, is uncertain, though it
is evidently a mysticetus.   One striking difference,
possibly the effect of situation and climate, is, that
the mysticetus found in southern regions is often co-
vered with barnacles, (Lepas diadema, &c.) while
those of the  Arctic seas  are free from these shell-
fish.
  It would be remarkable, if an  animal like the
whale, which is so timid that a bird alighting upon
its back sometimes sets it off in great agitation and
terror, should be wholly devoid of enemies.  Be-
sides  man, who is doubtless its  most formidable
adversary, it is subject to annoyance from sharks,
and it is also said from the narwal, sword-fish, and 
THE WHALE.
133
thresher.  With regard to the  narwal, I am per-
suaded that this opinion is incorrect, for so far from
its being an enemy, it is found to associate with the
whale in the greatest apparent harmony, and  its
appearance,  indeed, in the Greenland sea is hailed
by the fishers, the  narwal being considered as the
harbinger of  the whale.  But  the sword-fish and
thresher, (if such an animal there be) may possibly
be among the enemies of the whale, notwithstand-
ing I have never witnessed their combats; and the
shark is known certainly to be an enemy, though
perhaps not a very formidable one. Whales indeed
flee the seas where it abounds, and evince by marks
occasionally found on their tails, a strong evidence
of their havingbeen bit by the shark.  A living whale
may be annoyed, though it can scarcely be supposed
to be ever overcome by the shark; but a dead whale
is an easy prey, and affords a fine  banquet to this
insatiable creature.
  The whale, from its vast  bulk,  and variety of
products, is of great importance  in commerce, as
well as in the domestic economy of  savage nations;
and its oil and whalebone are of extensive applica-
tion in the arts and manufactures.  A description of
its most valuable products, and of the uses to which
they are applied, being  included in the account of
the whale fishery, which follows, it will only  be
necessary, in this place, to mention the purposes to
which parts and products, not now objects of  com-
merce, arc or might be applied. 
134
THE  WHALE.
   Though to the refined palate of a modern Euro-
 pean, the  flesh of a whale, as an article of food,
 would be received with abhorrence, yet we find
 that it is considered by some of the inhabitants of
 the northern shores of Europe, Asia, and America,
 as well  as those on the coasts of Hudson's Bay,
 and Davis's  strait, as a choice and staple article of
 subsistence.   The Esquimaux eat the flesh and
 fat of the whale, and drink  the oil with greediness.
 Indeed, some tribes, who are not familiarized with
 spiritous liquors, carry along with them  in their
 canoes, in their fishing excursions, bladders filled
 with oil, which they use in the same way, and with
 a similar relish, that a British sailor does a dram.*
 They  also eat the skin of the whale  raw, both
 adults and children; for it is not uncommon, when
 the females visit  the whale-ships, for them to help
 themselves to pieces of  skin, preferring those with
 which a little blubber is connected, and to give it as
 food to their  infants suspended on their backs, who
 suck it with  apparent delight.
   Blubber, when pickled and boiled, is said to be
 very palatable; the tail, when parboiled and  then
 fried, is said  to be not unsavoury, but even agreea-
 ble eating; and the flesh of young whales,  I know
 from experiment, is by no means indifferent food.
   Not only is it certain that the flesh of the whale
is now eaten  by savage  nations, but it is also well
* Ellis's voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 233. 
THE WHALE.
135
authenticated that, in the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th
centuries, it was  used as food by the Icelanders,
the Netherlanders, the French, the Spanish, and
probably by the English.  M. S. B. Noel, in  a
tract on the whale fishery,* informs us, that about the
13th century, the  flesh, particularly the  tongue of
whales, was sold  in the markets of Bayonne, Ci-
bourre and Beariz, where it was esteemed as a great
delicacy, being used at the best tables;  and even so
late as the  15th century, he conceives, from the au-
thority of Charles Etienne, that the principal nour-
ishment  of the poor in Lent, in some districts of
France, consisted of the flesh and fat of the whale.
   Besides  forming a  choice  eatable,  the  inferior
products of the whale are applied to other purposes
by the Indian and Esquimaux of Arctic countries,
and with some nations  are essential to their  com-
fort, some membranes of the abdomen  are used for
an upper article of clothing, and the peritoneum, in
particular,  being thin and transparent, is used in-
stead of  glass  in the windows of their huts; the
bones are converted into  harpoons and spears, for
striking  the seal, or darting at the  sea-birds, and
are also employed in the erection of their tents, and
with some tribes, in the formation of their boats; the
sinews are divided into filaments, and used  as
thread, with which  they join  the seams of their
  * Memoire sur " 1'Antiquite de la Peche de la Baleine par
les nations Europeennes." 
136
THE. WHALE.
 coats and tent cloths, and sew with great taste and
 nicety the different articles  of dress they manufac-
 ture; aud the whalebone and other  superior pro-
 ducts, so valuable in European markets, have also
 their uses among them.
   I shall conclude this account of the  mysticetus,
 with a sketch of some of the  characters which be-
 long generally to cetaceous  animals.
   Whales are viviparous: they have but one young
 at a time, and  suckle it with teats.  They are fur-
 nished with lungs, and are under the necessity of
 approaching the surface of the water at  intervals to
 respire in the  air.  The  heart has two ventricles
 aud two auricles.  The  blood is warmer than in
 the human species; in a  narwal that had been an
 hour and a half dead, the temperature of the blood
 was 97°; and in a mysticetus  recently killed 102°.
 All of them inhabit the sea.   Some of them pro-
 cure their food by means  of a/ kind of sieve, com-
 posed of two  fringes  of whalebone; these  have
 no  teeth.  Others  have  no  whalebone, but arc
 furnished with teeth.  They all have two lateral or
 pectoral fins, with concealed bones like those of a
 hand; and a large flexible horizontal tail, which is
 the principal  member of motion.  Some  have a
 kind of dorsal fin, which  is an adipose or cartila-
giuous substance, without  motion.   This fin, vary-
ing in form,  size, and position, in different species,
and being in a conspicuous situation, is well adapt- 
THE RAZOR-BACK.
137
ed for a specific distinction.   The appearance and
dimensions of the whalebone and teeth, especially
the former, are  other specific characteristics.  All
whales have spiracles or blowholes, some with one,
others with  two  openings,  through  which they
breathe; some have a smooth skin all over the body;
others have rugae  or sulci about the region of the
thorax and on the  lower jaw.   And all afford, be-
neath the integuments, a quantity of fat or blubber,
from whence a useful and valuable oil, the train oil
of commerce, is extracted.
         Species II.—The Razor-back.
                Balaena Physalis; L.
             Balsenoptera Gibbar: La Cepede.

   This is the longest animal of  the whale tribe;
and probably, the most  powerful  and bulky of
created beings. It differs from the mysticetus, in its
form being less cylindrical, and its body longer and
more  slender; in its whalebone being shorter;  its
produce in blubber and oil being less; in its colour
being of a bluer tinge; in its fins being more in num-
ber, in its breathing  or blowing being more vio-
lent; in its speed being greater; in its actions being
quicker and more restless, and in its conduct being
bolder.
  Vol. in.---18 
138
THE RAZOR-BACK.
   The length of the physalis is about  100 feet; its
greatest circumference 30 or 35.  The body is not
cylindrical, but is considerably compressed on the
side,  and angular at the back.   A transverse sec-
tion near the fins is an oblong,  and at the rump a
rhombus.  The longest lamina of whalebone mea-
sures about four feet; it affords ten or twelve tons of
blubber.   Its colour is a pale bluish black, or dark
bluish gray, in which it resembles the sucking mys-
ticetus. Besides the two pectoral fins, it has a small
horny protuberance, or rayless and immoveable fin,
on the extremity of the back.   Its blowing is very
violent, and  may be heard in calm  weather, at the
distance of about a mile. It swims with a velocity at
the greatest of about twelve miles an hour.  It is by
no means a timid animal, yet it does not appear to
be revengeful or mischievous.   When closely pur-
sued by boats, it manifests little fear, and does  not
attempt to outstrip them in the race; but merely  en-
deavours  to  avoid them by  diving or changing its
direction.  If harpooned, or otherwise wounded, it
then exerts all its energies, and escapes with its ut-
most velocity, but shows little disposition to retaliate
on its enemies, or to repel their attacks by engaging
in a combat.   Though at a distance the physalis is
sometimes mistaken by the whalers  for the mysti-
cetus; yet its appearance and actions are so different,
that it may be generally  distinguished.   It seldom
lies quietly on the surface of the water when blow-
ing, but usually has a velocity of four or five miles 
THE RAZOR-BACK.
139
an hour; and when it descends, it very rarely throws
its tail in the air, which is a very general practice
with the mysticetus.
  The  great speed and activity of the physalis,
render it a difficult and dangerous object of attack;
while the small quantity of  inferior oil it  affords,
makes it unworthy the general attention of the fish-
ers.   When struck, it frequently  drags the fast
boat with  such  speed through the water, that it is
liable to be carried immediately  beyond the  reach
of assistance,  and soon out of  sight of both  boats
and  ship.   Hence the striker  is under the necessity
of cutting  the line,  and sacrificing his employer's
property,  for  securing the safety of himself and
companions.  I have  made  different  attempts  to
capture one of these formidable creatures.  In the
year 1818,1 ordered a general  chase of them, pro-
viding against the  danger of having my crew  sepa-
rated from the ship, by appointing a rendezvous on
the shore, not far distant, and preparing against the
loss of much line, by dividing it at 200 fathoms from
the harpoon, and  affixing a buoy to the  end  of it.
Thus arranged,  one of these whales was shot, and
another struck.  The former dived with such im-
petuosity, that the line was broken by the resistance
of the buoy, as soon as it was thrown into the water,
and  the latter was  liberated within a minute by the
the division of the line, occasioned, it was supposed,
by its friction against the dorsal fin.   Both of them
escaped.  Another physalis was  struck by one of 
140
THE RAZOR-BACK.
my inexperienced harpooners, who mistook it for a
mysticetus.  It dived obliquely with such velocity,
that 480 fathoms of line were withdrawn from the
boat in  about a minute of time.   This whale was
also lost by the breaking of the line.
  The following observations on this  animal have
been derived from different persons who have had
opportunities of examining it when dead.
  Length of a  physalis  found dead in  Davis's
Strait 105 feet,  greatest circumference about 38.
Head small, compared with  that of  the common
whale; fins long  and narrow; tail about twelve feet
broad, finely formed;  whalebone about four feet in
length, thick, bristly  and narrow; blubber six  or
eight inches thick, of indifferent quality; colour blu-
ish black on the back, and bluish gray  on the belly;
skin smooth, excepting about the side of the thorax,
where longitudinal rugae or sulci occur.  The phy-
salis occurs  in  great  numbers in the  Arctic  seas,
especially along the edge of the ice, between Cherie
Island and Nova Zembla, and also near Jan Mayen.
Persons trading to Archangel have often mistaken
it for the common whale.  It is seldom seen among
much ice, and  seems to be avoided by the  mysti-
cetus; as  such, the whale fishers view its appear-
ance with painful concern.   It inhabits most gene-
rally in the Spitzbergen quarter, the parallels of
from 70 to 76 degrees,  but in the months of June,
July, and August, when the sea is usually open, it
advances  along the land to the northward as high 
            THE BROAD-NOSED WHALE.        141

as the 80th degree of latitude.  In open seasons it
is seen near the headland at an earlier period.  A
whale, probably of this  kind, 101 feet in length,
was stranded on the banks of the Humber, about the
middle of September, 1750.
    Species III.—The Broad-nosed Whale.

               Balsena Musculus; L.

            Bahenoptera Rorqual: La Cepede.

  This species of Whale frequents the coasts of Scot-
land, Ireland, and Norway, &c. and is said to feed
principally upon herrings.  Several characters of
the musculus very much resemble those of the phy-
salis, though I believe there is an essential differ-
ence between the two animals; the musculus being
shorter, havingalarger head and mouth, and rounder
under jaw, than the physalis. Several individuals,
apparently of this kind, have been stranded or kill-
ed  on  different  parts of the coast  of the United
Kingdom.   One, 52 feet  in length, was stranded
near Eyemouth, June J 9th, 1752.   Another, near-
ly 70 feet in length, ran ashore on the coast of Corn-
wall, on  the 18th, of June, 1797*  Three were kill-
ed on the northwest coast of Ireland, in the year
1762, and two in 1763; one or two have been killed
in the Thames, and one was embayed and killed in 
142               THE FINNER.
Baltic sound, Shetland, in the winter of 1817-18;
some  remains of which I saw.  This latter  whale,
was 82  feet in length, the jaw bones were 31 feet
long,  the longest lamina of whalebone about three
feet long.   Instead of hair at the inner edge and at
the front of each blade of whalebone, it had a fringe
of bristly fibres; and it was stiffer, harder, and more
horny in its texture than common whalebone.  This
whale produced only about five tons of oil, all of it
of an  inferior quality, some of it viscid and bad- It
was  valued altogether, expenses of removing  the
produce and extracting the oil deducted, at no more
than 60Z. Sterling.  It had the usual sulci about the
thorax,  and a dorsal fin.
   In its blowing, swimming, and general action, as
well as  in its appearance in the water, the musculus
very much resembles  the physalis, from which, in-
deed,* while living, it can scarcely be distinguished.
           Species IV.—The Finner.

                Balaena Boops: L.

            Balaenoptera Jubartes; La Cepede.

  Length about 46 feet; greatest circumference of the
body about 20 feet; dorsal protuberance or fin, about
two feet and a half high; pectoral fin, four or five feet
long,  externally, and scarcely a foot broad; tail 
THE  FINNER.               143
about  three feet deep,  and ten  broad; whalebone
about 300 laminae on each side, the longest about
18 inches in  length; the under jaw  about  15  feet
long, or one third of whole  length of the  animal;
sulci about two dozen in number; two external blow-
holes;  blubber on the body, two  or three  inches
thick; under the sulci none.
  In the Memoirs of the Wernerian  Society, a de-
scription of a whale, corresponding in its dimen-
sions, at least, with the Balaena Boops, has been
given to the public by Mr. P. Neill, Edinburgh.*
This whale was stranded on the banks of the Forth,
near Alloa,  and  had been considerably  mutilated
before Mr. Neill had an opportunity of examining
it.   It is considered by him, a Balaena  Rostrata.
From his valuable paper, part of the above descrip-
tion is taken, which differs so much from a Rostrata
noticed below, particularly in its larger dimensions,
and  in the greater proportion which the head bears
to the body, that it  would  appear  to belong either
to the Balaena Boops or to an undescribed species.
From the inaccuracy of the sketches of almost all the
whales  hitherto  figured,  the naturalist  is  rather
plagued than assisted by  them.   As such, the fig-
ures given by  La Cepkde and others, can scarcely
be of any service, in determining the species of this
whale.
* Vol. 1. p. 201. 
144
THE BEAKED WHALE.
        Species V.—The Beaked Whale.

                Balaena Rostrata; L.
          Bahenoptera leuto Rostrata: La Cep^de.

   This is the last  and  the smallest of the whale-
 bone whales with which I am acquainted.  An ani-
 mal of this  species was  killed in Scalpa Bay, No-
 vember 14,1808.   Its length was 17J feet, circum-
 ference 20 feet, length from the snout to the dorsal
 fin 171 feet> from  the  snout to the pectoral fin 5
 feet, from the snout to the eye 3£ feet, and from the
 snout to the blowholes 3 feet.  Pectoral fins two
 feet long and seven inches broad; dorsal  fin 15
 inches long by 9 inches high, tail  15  inches long
 by 4|  feet broad.   Largest whalebone about  six
 inches.  Colour of the back black; of the belly
 glossy white; and  of the grooves of the plicae, ac-
 cording to Mrs. Traill, who saw it on the  beach
 in Scalpa Bay, a sort of flesh colour.
   The Rostrata is said to inhabit  principally the
 Norwegian  seas, and to grow to the length of 25
 feet.  One of the  species was killed near Spitz-
 bergen, in the  year  1813, some of the whalebone
 of which I now have in  my possession.  It is thin,
fibrous, of a  yellowish white colour,  and semi-trans-
 parent, almost like lantern horns.  It is curved like
a scymetar, and fringed  with white hair on the con-
 vex edge and point.  Its length is 9 inches; greatest"
breadth 2i. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
145
         THE WHALE FISHERY.

 Observations on the Fishery of different latitudes and
    seasons, and under different circumstances of Ice,
    Wind, and Weather.

   It  is not yet ascertained, what is the earliest
 period of the  year, in which it. is  possible to fish
 for whales.  The danger attending the navigation,
 amidst massive drift ice  in the obscurity  of night,
 is the most formidable objection against attempting
 the fishery before the middle of the month of April,
 when the sun, having entered the northern tropic,
 begins to enlighten the Polar regions  throughout
 the twenty-four hours.  Severity of frost, preva-
 lence of storms, and  frequency of thick weather,
 arising from snow and frost rime, are the usual con-
 comitants of the spring of the year; and these, when
 combined with the darkness incident  to night,  a
 tempestuous sea, and crowded ice, must  probably
 produce  as high a degree of horror in the mind of
 the navigator, who is  unhappily subjected to  their
 distressful influence, as any combination of circum-
 stances which the'imagination can present.  Some
 ships have sailed to the  northward of the seventyr
 eighth degree  of latitude, before the close of the
month of March; but  I  am not acquainted with  a
single instance, where the hardy fishers have, at this
  Vol. III.-—19 
146
WHALE-FISHERY.
season, derived any compensation for the  extraor-
dinary dangers to which they were exposed.   In
the course of the  month of  April, on certain occa-
sions, considerable progress has been made in the
fishery, notwithstanding the frequency of storms.
At the first stage of the  business, in open  seasons,
the whales are usually found in most abundance on
the borders of the ice, near Hackluyt's Headland,
in the latitude of 80°.   A degree or two farther
south, they are sometimes seen, though not in much
plenty; but in the  76th degree, they sometimes occur
in such numbers,  as to present a tolerable  prospect
of success in assailing them.   Some rare instances
have occurred, wherein  they have been seen on the
edge of the ice,  extending from Cherry Island to
Point-look-out, in the early part of  the season.
   In the year 1803,  the fishery  of April was con-
siderable  in the  latitude of 80°;  in  1813, many
whales were seen in the  same latitude; but the
weather being tempestuous in an almost  unprece-
dented degree, but few were killed; and in the in-
ter me diafe years, the fishery was never general in
this month, and but seldom begun at all before the
commencement of May.  In 1814, the fishery com-
menced before the middle of April, and some ships
derived uncommon  advantage from an  early, ar-
rival.  In 1815,  some ships were near Spitzbergen
in  March,  and fished  in  the first week  of April
in  the latitude of 80°, where a great  number of 
WHALE-FISHERY.
t47
 whales were  seen.   Accompanying the ice  in its
 drift, along the coast to the southward, the same
 tribe of whales were seen in the latitude  of 78°,
 about the middle and end of the month, and a con-
 siderable  number were killed.   In 1816, fish were
 seen in 80°, in the same  month, but  few killed, on
 account of the formation of bay ice  upon  the sea.
 In 1817, the weather was very tempestuous in April,
 and scarcely any whales were killed; and in  1818,
 the fishery of this month was inconsiderable.
  Grown fish are frequently found at the edge, or
 a little within  the edge of the loose ice, in the 79th
 degree of north latitude, in the month of May; and
 small whales of different ages at fields, and some-
 times in bays of the ice in the 80th degree.
  Usually,  the fish   are most  plentiful in June;
 and on some occasions they are met with in every
 degree of latitude from 75° to 80°.  In this month,
 the large whales are  found  in every variety of sit-
 uation; sometimes in open water, at others in the
 loose ice, or at the edges of fields and floes, near the
 main  impervious body of  ice,  extending towards
 the coast  of West Greenland. .  The smaller ani-
 mals of the species are, at the same time, found far-
 ther to the south, than in the spring, at floes, fields,
 or even among loose ice, but most plentiful about
fields or floes, at the border of the main western ice,
 in theMatitude  of 78 or 78|  degrees.
  In  July, the fishery generally terminates, some-
 times at   the beginning of the  month, at  others, 
148
WHALE-FISHERY.
though  more rarely, it continues throughout  the
greater part of it.  Few small fish are seen at thi$
season.   The large whales,  when  plentiful,  are
found occasionally in every intermediate situation,
between the open sea and  the main  ice, in one di-
rection,  aud between the latitudes of 75° and 79° in
the other, but rarely as far north as 80°.
  The parallel of 78 to 78|  degrees,  is, on  the
whole, the most productive fishing  station.  The
interval between this parallel and 80°, or any other
situation more remote, is called the  " northward,"
and any situation in a lower latitude than  78°, is
called the " southward."
  Though the  79th degree affords  whales  in  the
greatest  abundance, yet the 76th  degree affords
them, perhaps, more generally.  In this latter situa-
tion, a very large kind  of  the mysticetus is com-
monly to be found throughout the season, from
April to July inclusive.   Their  number, however,
is  not often  great; and as the situation  in which
they occur is unsheltered,  and, consequently,  ex-
posed to heavy swells,  the southern fishery is  not
much frequented.
  The  parallel of 77° to 771°, is considered a
" dead  latitude," by the fishers, but occasionally
it affords whales also.
  From an attentive observation of  facts, it would
appear,  that  different tribes of the  mysticetus  in-
habit different regions, and pursue different routes
on their  removal from the  places where first seen. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
149
These tribes seem to be distinguished by a difference
of age or manners, and in some instances, apparent-
ly by a difference of species, or sub-species.   The
whales  seen in the spring in  the latitude of 80°,
which are usually full grown animals, disappear
generally by the end of April; and the place of their
retreat is unknown.  Those inhabiting the regions
of 78°, are of a mixed size. Such as resort to fields
in May and the beginning of  June, are generally
young animals; and those seen in  the latitude of
76°, are almost always of the very largest kind.
Instances are remembered-by some aged captains,
wherein a number have been taken in the southward
fishing  stations, which were astonishingly produc-
tive of  oil.   It is  probable, that the  difference in
the appearance of the heads, or the  difference of
proportion existing between the  heads and bodies
of some mysticete, are distinguishable of a differ-
ence in  the species, or sub-species.   Those inhabit-
ing southern latitudes, have commonly long heads
and bodies,  compared  with their  circumference,
moderately thick blubber and long whalebone; those
of the mean fishing latitude, that is  78°—79°, have
more commonly short broad heads, compared with
the  size of the body.   In some individuals, the
head is at least one-third of the whole length of the
animal, but in others scarcely two-sevenths. Hence,
it is exceedingly  probable, that the  whales seen
early in April, in the latitude of 80°, are a peculiar
tribe, which do not re-appear during the remainder 
150
WHALE-FISHERY.
of the season; and that those inhabiting the latitude
of 78° and of 76°> are likewise distinct tribes.
   Notwithstanding, if we descend to particulars, the
great variety aud  uncertainty which appear in  the
nature of the situations preferred by the whales, and
the apparent dissimilarity observed in their habits,
it is probable, that, were  the different tribes distin-
guished, we should find  a much greater degree of
similarity in their choice of  situation and  in their
general  habits than we are at present able to trace.
   Annoyed as the whales are by the fishers, it is
not surprising that they sometimes vary  their usual
places of resort, and it is  not improbable, were they
left undisturbed for a few years, but that they might
return to the bays and sea-coasts of Spitzbergen and
its neighbouring islands,  as was formerly the cus-
tom with certain tribes, at the commencement of this
fishery.   We are doubtless iu a great measure indebt-
ed to the necessity they are under, of performiug the
function of respiration in the air, at stated intervals,
for being able to meet with them at  all;  though  the
coast of Spitzbergen may  possibly possess powerful
attraction to the mysticete, by affording them a great-
er abundance of palatable food than the interior west-
ern waters, covered perpetually by the ice.  From
this necessity of respiring  in the air, we may account
for their appearance in the open sea in the  early
part of the spring.   The ice at this season, connect-
ed by the winter's frost, is so consolidated, as to pre-
vent the whales from breathing among it, excepting 
WHALE-FISHERY.             151
within so much of its confines as may be broken by
the violence of the sea in storms.  After the disso-
lution of the continuity of the ice, by  north, north-
west, or west winds, they find sufficient convenience
for respiration in the interior,  and  often  retreat
thither to the great disadvantage of the whalers. In
such cases, if the formation of bay ice, or the con-
tinuity  of the border  of the heavy ice, prevents
the ships from following, the whales completely es-
cape their enemies, until the relaxation of the frost
permits an entrance.
   It is not uncommon, however, for an adult tribe of
whales, to resort partially to the open sea, between
the latitudes of- 76° and 79°, during the months  of
May and Juue, and, though  more rarely, during the
early part of July, when,  at length, they suddenly
betake  themselves  to  the ice, and disappear  alto-
gether.
   The  systematical movements of the whales re-
ceive additional illustration  from many well known
facts. Sometimes a large tribe, passing frOm one place
to another, which, under such circumstances, is de-
nominated  a " run of fish,"  has been traced in its
movements in a direct line  from the south towards
the  north,  along the seaward  edge of the western
ice, through a space of two  or three degrees of lati-
tude; then it has been ascertained to  have entered
the ice, and penetrated to the north-westward, be-
yond the reach  of the fishers.   In certain years,  it
is curious  to observe, that  the whales commence a 
152
WHALE-FISHERY.
 simultaneous  retreat throughout the whole fishing
 limits, and all disappear within the space of a very
 few days. On such occasions it has often happened,
 that not  a single whale has been seen by any indi-
 vidual belonging to the whole Greenland fleet, after
 perhaps the middle  of June,  but  more  commonly
 after the first or second week in July, notwithstand-
 ing many of the fleet may have cruised about in the
 fishing region  for a month afterwards.  In the year
 1813, whales  were found in considerable numbers
 in the open sea, during the greater part of the fish-
 ing season, but in the greatest abundance about the
 end of June and beginning of July.   On the  6th of
 July, they departed into the ice, and were followed
 by the fishers;  several were killed  during the three
 succeeding days, but they wholly disappeared after
 the  9th.   Notwithstanding, several  ships cruised
 6< the country,"  for  some weeks afterwards,  in all
 navigable directions, through an extent of four de-
 grees of latitude, and penetrated the ice as far as
 the main  western body, in  different parallels, it
 does not  appear  that a single whale was caught,
 and  as far as I was able to learn, but one was seen,
 and this individual was  observed to be rapidly ad-
 vancing towards the  north-west.  1 do not mention
this as an  uncommon circumstance, because a simi-
lar case occurs frequently, but as a single illustra-
tion of the foregoing  observation.
  When the fishery for the season, in the opinion of
the British whalers, has altogether ceased,  it ap- 
WHALE-FISHERY.
153
 pears from  the  observation of the Dutch,* that it
 may frequently be recommenced in the autumn, at
 the verge of the most  northern waters, near Hack-
 luyt's Headland. They consider the fish which then
 appear as the same tribe that are seen in this place
 in the spring of the year, and enter the ice, imme-
 diately after it opens  in the north.  On the recom-
 mencement of the frost, they instinctively return to
 prevent themselves being enclosed so far within the
 ice, as to occasion suffocation from the freezing up
 of the openings through which they might otherwise
 breathe.
  This tribe are  supposed by the Dutch to be real-
 ly inhabitants of the sea adjoining West Greenland;
 that they always retreat thither whenever the state
 of the ice will admit, and  only appear within the
 observation  of the fishers, when the solidity of the
 ice prevents their attaining those favourite situations,
 where they probably find the most agreeable food.f
  The whales, of lower latitudes, however, whose
 food  lies near the eastern margin of the main  ice,
 when they enter the ice in May and June, seem'to
exhibit an intention of evading their pursuers; for  in
whatever manner they may retreat for a while, they
frequently return  to the same or other similar place,
  * Beschryving der Walvisvangst, vol. 1, p. 52.
  t Beschryving, &c. vol. 1. p. 53.—As I have never seen
whales in this situation in the autumn myself I give the in-
formation entirely on the authority of the work here quoted.
   Vol. III.---20 
154
WHALE-FISHERY.
accessible to the  fishers.  But after the nfonth of
July, this tribe also penetrates so deeply into  the
ice, that it gets beyond the reach of its enemies.
  Experience proves, that the whale has its favour-
ite places of resort, depending on a  sufficiency  of
food, particular circumstances  of weather, and par-
ticular positions and  qualities of the ice.   Thus,
though many whales  may have  been seen in open
water, when the weather was fine, after the occur-
rence of a storm, perhaps not one is  to be  seen.
And, though fields are sometimes the resort of hun-
dreds of whales, yet, whenever the loose ice around
separates entirely away, the whales quit them also.
Hence fields seldom afford whales in much abund-
ance, excepting at the time when they first " break
out," and become accessible;  that is,  immediately
after a vacancy is made on some side by the sepa-
ration of adjoining fields, floes,  or drift ice. Whales,
on leaving fields which have become exposed, fre-
quently retire to other more obscure  situations in a
west or northwest direction; but occasionally they
retreat no further than the  neighbouring drift ice,
from whence they sometimes return to the fields at
regular intervals of six, twelve  or twenty-four hours.
  Whales are rarely  seen in abundance in the large
open space of water, which sometimes occurs amidst
fields and floes, nor  are they commonly seen in a
very open pack, unless it be in the immediate neigh-
bourhood of the main  western ice.  They seem to
have a  preference  for close packs and  patches of
ice;  and for  fields under certain  circumstances: for 
WHALE-FISHERY.
155
 deep bays or bights, and sometimes for clear water
 situations; occasionally for detached streams of drift
 ice; and most generally, for extensive sheets of bay
 ice.  Bay ice is a  very favourite  retreat of the
 whales, so long as it continues  sufficiently tender
 to be conveniently broken, for the purpose of respi-
 ration.   In such situations, whales may frequently
 be seen in amazing  numbers,  elevating and break-
 ing the ice with their crowns,* where they are ob-
 served  to remain much longer at rest than when
 seen in open water, or in the clear interstices of the
 ice, or  indeed in almost any other situation.
 Description of the boats and principal instruments used
             in the capture of the whale.

   Whale-boats are, of course, peculiarly adapted
 for the  occupation they are intended to be employ-
 ed in.   A well constructed " Greenland boat," pos-
 sesses the following properties.  It  floats  lightly
 and safely on the water,—is capable of being row-
 ed with great speed, and readily turned round,—it
 is of such capacity that it carries six or seven men,
 seven or eight hundred weight of whale-lines, and
 various other materials, and yet retains the necessa-
 ry properties of safety, buoyancy, and speed, either
 in smooth  water, or where it is exposed to a con-
 siderable sea.   Whale-boats being  very  liable to
receive  damage, both from whales and ice,  arc al-
  * The eminence on the head of the whale, in which the
hlow-holes are situated, is thus called. 
156
WHALE-FISHERY.
ways carver-built,—a structure which is easily re-
paired.   They are usually of the following dimen-
sions. Those called " six oared boats," adapted for
carrying seven men, six of whom, including the har-
pooner, are rowers, are generally  26 to 28  feet in
length,  and about five feet nine inches  in breadth.
Six  men boats, that is,  with five rowers and a steers-
man, are usually 25  to 26 feet in length, and about
five  feet six inches in  breadth.  And  " four oared
boats," are usually  twenty-three to twenty-four in
length,  and about five  feet three inches in breadth.
The main breadth of the two first  classes of  boats
is at about three-sevenths of the length of the boat
reckoned from the stem;  but, in the last  class,  it
is necessary to have the main breadth within one-
third of the length of the boat from  the stem.  The
object of this is, to enable the smaller  boat  to sup-
port, without being dragged under water, as great a
strain on the lines as those of a larger class; other-
wise, if such a  boat were sent out by itself, its lines
would be always liable to be lost before any assist-
ance could reach it.   The five oared or six men
boat, is that which is in  most general  use;  though
each fishing ship generally carries one or two of the
largest  class. These boats are now  commonly built
of fir-boards, one-half or three-fourths of an inch
thick, with timbers, keel, gunwales, stem and stern-
post of  oak.  An improvement in the  timbering of
whale-boats has  lately been made, by sawing the
timber out of very straight grained  oak, and bend-
ing them to the  required form, after  being made 
                WHALE-FISHERY.             157
supple, by the application of steam, or  immersion
in boiling water. This improvement, which renders
the timbers more elastic, than  when they are sawn
out of crooked oak, at the same time makes the boat
stronger and lighter.  Though  the principle  has
long been acted  upon in clincher-built boats, with
ash timbers, the application to carver-built whale-
boats, is, I believe,  new.   The bow and stern of
Greenland  boats, are both sharp, and, in appear-
ance, very similar; but the stern forms a more acute
angle  than the bow.  The  keel  has some inches
depression in the middle, from which the facility of
turning is acquired.
   The instruments of general use in the capture of
the whale, are the harpoon and lance.
   The harpoon (fig.  4.) is an instrument of iron, of
about three feet in length.   It consists of three con-
joined  parts, called  the " socket,"  " shank,"  and
" mouth," the latter of which  includes the barbs or
" withers."  This instrument, if we except a small
addition to the barbs, and some enlargement of dimen-
sions, maintains the same form in which it was ori-
ginally used in the  fishery two centuries ago.   At
that time, the mouth or barbed extremity was of a tri-
angular shape, united to the shank in the middle of
one of the sides; and this being scooped out on each
side of the shank, formed two simple flat barbs. In
the course of last century, an improvement was made,
by adding another small barb, resembling the beard
of a fish-hook, within each of the former withers, in
a reverse position.   The two  principal  withers, in 
158
WHALE-FISHERY.
 the present improved harpoon, measure about eight
 inches in length and six in breadth; the shank is
 eighteen inches to two feet in length, and four-tenths
 of an inch  in diameter, and the socket, which is
 hollow, swells from the size of  the shank to near
 two  inches diameter, and  is about  six inches in
 length.   Now, when the harpoon  is  forced  by a
 blow  into the fat  of the  whale, and the line is
 held tight,  the principal withers seize the strong
 ligamentous fibres of  the  blubber,  and prevent
 it from  being withdrawn; and in the event of its
 being pulled  out,  so  far as to  remain entangled
 by one wither only,  which is frequently  the  case,
 then the little reverse barb, or " stop wither," as it is
 called, collecting a number of the same reticulated
 sinewy fibres, which are very numerous  near the
 skin, prevents the harpoon from  being shaken out
 by the ordinary motions of the whale.  The point
 and exterior edges of the barbs of the harpoon, are
 sharpened to a rough edge, by means of a file. This
 part of the harpoon is not formed of steel, as  it is
 frequently represented, but of common soft iron; so
 that when blunted, it can be readily sharpened by a
 file, or even by scraping it with a knife. The most
 important part in the construction of this instrument,
 is  the shank.  As this part is liable  to be forcibly
 and sudddenly extended, twisted and bent, it re-
 quires to be made of the softest and  most pliable
iron.   That kind which is of the most approved
tenacity,  is made of old horse-shoe  nails or stubs,
which arc formed into small rods, and two or three 
WHALE-FISHERY.
159
of these welded together; so that should a flaw hap-
pen to occur in any one of the rods, the strength of
the whole might  still be depended on. Some manu-
facturers enclose a quantity of stub-iron in a cylinder
of best foreign iron, and form the shank of the har-
poon  out of a single rod.   A test sometimes used
for trying the  sufficiency of a harpoon,  is to wind
its shank round  a bolt of inch iron, in the form of a
close  spiral, then to unwind it again, and put it in-
to a straight form.  If it bears this without injury
in the cold  state, it is considered as excellent. The
breaking of a harpoon is of no less importance than
the value of a  whale, which is sometimes estimated
at more than 1000Z. sterling.
   Next in  importance to the harpoon, is the lance,
(fig. 5.) which is a spear of iron of the length of six
feet.  It consists of a hollow socket six inches long,
swelling from  half  an  inch, the size of the  shank,
to near two inches in diameter, into  which is fitted
a four feet  stock or handle of  fir; a shank five  feet
long,  and half an inch in diameter; and a mouth of
steel, which is  made  very thin, and  exceedingly
sharp, seven or eight inches in length, and two or
2| in breadth.
   These two  instruments, the harpoon and lance,
with  the necessary apparatus  of lines,  boats, and
oars,  are all  that  are essential  for capturing the
whale.   But besides these instruments, so  success-
fully  used in the whale-fishery, there is likewise an
auxiliary weapon  which has,  at different  periods,
been  of some  celebrity.  This is the harpoon-gun. 
160
WHALE-FISHERY.
 It is well calculated to facilitate the capture of whales
 under particular circumstances, particularly in calm
 clear weather, when the fish are apt to take the
 alarm, whenever the boats approach  within fifteen
 or twenty yards of them.   The  harpoon-gun was
 invented in the year  lf31,  and used, it seems, by
 some individuals  with  success.  Being, however,
 difficult, and somewhat dangerous in its application,
 it was laid aside for many years.  It has, however,
 subsequently been highly improved, and rendered
 capable of throwing a harpoon near forty yards with
 effect; yet, on account of the difficulty and address
 requisite in the management of it, and loss of fish,
 which, in unskilful hands it has been the means of
 occasioning, together with  some accidents which
 have resulted from its use,—it has not been so gene-
 rally adopted as might have been expected.
  In  its present improved form,  the  harpoon-gun
 consists  of a  kind of swivel,  having a barrel of
 wrought iron, 24 to 2G inches in length, of 3 inches
 exterior diameter, and 1| inches bore.  It is furnish-
 ed  with two locks, which act simultaneously, for
 the purpose of diminishing the liability of the gun
 missing fire.  Fig. 1. is a representation of the
 harpoon-gun; and fig. 2. and 3. show  the  form
 of the harpoon which is fired from it.   The shank
 of this  harpoon is double,  terminating in a cy-
lindrical knob, fitting the bore of the gun.   Be-
 tween the two parts of the shank  is a  wire ring, to
which is attached  the line.   Now, when the har-
poon  is introduced into the barrel of the gun, the 

H 
 
WHALE-FISHERY.
161
 ring, with the attached line, remains on the outside
 near the mouth  of the harpoon; but the instant that
 it is fired, the ring flies back against the cylindrical
 knob.  Some harpoons have been lately made with
 a single shank,  similar to the common  " hand-har-
 poon," but swelled at the end  to the thickness of
 the bore of the gun.  The whale line closely splic-
 ed round  the shank, is slipped  towards the mouth
 of the harpoon, when it is placed in the gun, and
 when fired, is prevented from disengaging itself, by
 the size of the knob at the end.

          Proceedings on Fishing Stations.

   On fishing stations,  when  the weather is such as
 to render the fishing practicable, the boats are al-
 ways ready  for instant service.  Suspended from
 davits or cranes by the side of the ship, and furnish-
 ed with the requisite implements, two boats at least,
 the crews of which are always in readiness, can, in
 a general  way,  be manned and lowered  into the
water, within the space of one minute of time.
  Wherever there is a  probability of seeing whales,
when the weather  and  situation are such, as to pre-
sent a possibility of capturing them, the crow's-
nest*, is generally occupied by the master, or some
  * The crow's-nest, is an apparatus placed on  the main-
topmast, or top-gallant-mast head, as a kind of watch tow-
er, for the use of the master, or officer of the watch, in the
fishing  seas,  for sheltering him from the wind,  when en-
  Vol. 111.—-21 
162
WHALE-FISHERY.
one of the officers,  who, commanding from thence
an extensive prospect of the surrounding sea, keeps
an anxious  watch  for the appearance of  a whale;
assisted by a telescope, he views the operations of
any ship which may be in sight at a distance; and
occasionally sweeps the horizon with his  glass,  to
extend the limited  sphere of vision, in which he is
able to discriminate a whale with the naked eye, to
an area vastly greater.   The moment that a fish is
seen, he gives  notice  to the  " watch upon deck,"
part of whom leap into  a  boat, are lowered down,
and push off' towards the place. If the fish be large,
a second boat is immediately despatched to the sup-
port of the other.  When the whale again appears,
two  boats row towards  it with their utmost speed;
and though they may be disappointed in  all their at-
tempts,  they  generally  continue  the pursuit, until
the fish either takes the alarm, and escapes them, or
they are recalled by signal to the ship.* When two
or more fish,  appear at the same time in different
situations,  the number of  boats, sent in pursuit, is
commonly  increased;  and when  the whole of the
gaged in piloting the ship, through crowded ice, or for ob-
taining a more extensive view of the sea around, when look-
ing out for whales.  In difficult situations, a master's pre-
sence at the mast-head is sometimes required for many hours
in succession, when the temperature of the air is from 10°
to 20° degrees below the freezing point, or more.  It is
therefore necessary for the preservation of his health, as well
as his comfort, that he should be sheltered from the gale. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
103
 boats are sent out, the ship is said to have u a loose
 fall."
   During fine weather, in situations where whales
 are seen, or where they have recently been seen, or
 where  there  is a  great probability of any making
 their appearance, a boat'is generally kept in readi-
 ness, manned and  afloat.   If  the  ship sails with
 considerable velocity, this boat is towed by a rope
 astern;  but when  the ship is pretty  still, whether
 moored to ice, laid to, or sailing in light winds,  the
 " bran  boat," as it is called, often pushes off to a
 little distance from the ship. A boat on watch, com-
 monly  lies still in  some eligible situation, with all
 its oars  elevated out of the water, but in readiness
 in the hands of the rowers for immediate use.
   The harpooner  aud boat steerer, keep a careful
 watch on all sides, while each of the rowers looks
 out in the direction of his oar.  In field fishing,  the
 boats approach  the ice with their sterns, and  are
 each of them fastened to it, by means of a boat-hook,
 or an iron  spike  with a  cord attached,  either of
 which is held by the boat-steerer, and is slipped or
 withdrawn, the moment a  whale appears.  There
 are several rules observed in approaching a whale,
 as precautions, to prevent, as far as possible, the ani-
mal from taking the alarm.  As the  whale is dull
 of hearing, but  quick  of sight, the boat-steerer  al-
ways endeavours  to get behind it; and, in accom-
plishing this,  he is sometimes justified in taking a
circuitous route.   In calm weather, where guns are 
164
WHALE-FISHERY.
not used, the greatest caution is necessary, before a
whale can be reached; smooth  careful rowing is al-
ways requisite, and sometimes sculling is practised.
  When it is known that a whale seldom abides
longer on the water than two minutes, that it gene-
rally remains from  five to ten or fifteen minutes
under  water;* that in this interval  it  sometimes
moves  through a space of half a mile or more,—
and that the fisher has very rarely, any  certain in-
timation of the place in which it will reappear;—
the difficulty and address, requisite to approach suf-
ficiently near, during its short stay on the surface,
to harpoon it, will readily be appreciated.   It is,
therefore, a primary consideration with the harpoon-
er always to place his boat as near as  possible to
the spot, in which he expects the fish to rise, and he
conceives himself successful  in  the attempt when
the fish " comes up within a start," that is, within
the distance of about 200 yards.  In all cases when
a whale that is pursued, has butonce been seen, the
fisher  is considerably indebted  to what is  called
chance for a favourable position.  But when  the
whale has been twice seen, and its change of place,
if any,  noticed, the harpooner makes the best use of
the intimation derived from his  observation on its
  * Before I had particularly minuted the time, that a whale
stays on the surface, and remains below, I believed each in-
terval, and especially the former, was much greater than it
really is. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
165
apparent motion, and places his boat accordingly;
thus he anticipates  the fish in its progress, so that
when it rises to the surface, there is probability of
its being within the favourable  precincts of a start.
  A whale moving forward at a small distance be-
neath the surface of the sea, leaves  a sure indica-
tion of its situation, in what is  called an " eddy,"
having somewhat the resemblance of  the " wake,"
or track of a ship, and  in  fine  calm weather, its
change of position is sometimes pointed out by the
birds, many of which closely follow it when at the
surface,  and  hover  over it  when  below, whose
keener vision can discover it, when it is totally con-
cealed from  human eyes.  By  these indications
mSny whales have been taken.
  Whenever a whale lies on the surface of the wa-
ter, unconscious of the approach of its enemies, the
hardy fisher rows directly upon it;  and an instant
before the boat touches it, buries his harpoon  in its
back.  But if, while the  boat is yet at a little dis-
tance,  the  whale should indicate his intention of
diving, by lifting his head above its common level,
and then plunging it under Water, and  raising his
body until  it  appear like the  large  segment of a
sphere,—the harpoon is thrown from the hand, or
fired from a gun, the former of which, when skilfully
practised, is efficient at the distance of eight or ten
yards, and the latter at the distance of thirty yards,
or upward.   The wounded whale, in the surprise
and agony of  the moment, makes a  convulsive ef- 
166
WHALE-TISHERY.
 fort to escape.  Then is the moment of danger. The
 boat is subjected to the most violent blows from its
 head, or its fins, but particularly from its ponderous
 tail, which sometimes sweeps  the air  with such
 tremendous fury, that both  boat and men are ex-
 posed  to one common destruction.
   The head of the whale is avoided, because it can-
 not be penetrated with the harpoon; but any part of
 the body, between the  head and tail, will admit of
 the full length of the instrument, without danger of
 obstruction.  The  harpoon, therefore,  is  always
 struck into the back, and generally well  forward
 towards  the fins, thus affording the  chance, when
 it happens  to drag and plough  along the back, of
 retaining its hold during a longer  time, than when
 struck in closer to the tail.
   The moment that the wounded whale disappears,
 or leaves the boat, a  jack or flag, elevated  on a
 staff, is displayed; on sight of which, those on watch
 in the  ship, give the  alarm, by stamping  on the
 deck, accompanied by a simultaneous and continued
 shout of " a fall,"* at  the sound of this, the sleep-
ing crew are roused, jump from their beds,  rush
upon  deck, with their clothes  tied by a string in
  * The word fall, as well as many others used in the fishery,
is derived from the Dutch language.  In the original it is
written val, implying jump,drop, fall, and is considered as
expressive of the conduct of the sailors, when manning the
boats, on an occasion requiring extreme dispatch. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
167
their hands, and crowd  into the boats, with a tem-
perature of zero. Should a fall occur, the crew would
appear upon deck, shielded only by their drawers,
stockings, and shirts, or other habiliments in which
they sleep.  They generally contrive to dress them-
selves, in part  at least, as the boats are  lowered
down; but sometimes  they push off in the state in
which they rise from their beds, row away towards
the " fast boat," and have no opportunity to clothe
themselves for  a length of time afterwards.  The
alarm of a " fall," has a singular effect on the feel-
ings of a sleeping person,  unaccustomed to  the
whale-fishing business.  It has often been mistaken
as a cry  of distress.   A landsman in a Hull ship,
seeing the crew, on an occasion of a fall, rush upon
deck,  with their clothes in their hands, when  there
was no appearance of dauger, thought the men were
all mad; but, with another individual the effect was
totally different.  Alarmed with the extraordinary
noise; and still  more so, when he reached the deck,
with the  appearance of all the crew  seated in the
boats in their shirts, he imagined the ship was  sink-
iug.  He therefore endeavoured to get into a boat
himself, but every one of them being fully manned,
he  was always repulsed.   After several  fruitless
endeavours  to gain a  place  among his comrades,
he  cried  out, with feelings of evident  distress,
" what shall I do?—Will  none of you take me in?"
  The first effort of a  " fast-fish,"  or whale that
has been struck, is to escape from the boat, by sink- 
168
WHALE-FISHERY.
ing under water.   After this,  it pursues its course
directly downward, or  re-appears  at a little dis-
tance, and swims with great celerity, near the sur-
face of the water, towards  any neighbouring ice,
among which  it may obtain an imaginary shelter;
or it returns instantly to the surface, and gives evi-
dence of its agony, by the most convulsive  throes,
in which its fins and tail are alternately displayed
in the air, and dashed into the water with  tremen-
dous violence.  The former behaviour, however,
that is, to dive towards the bottom of the sea, is so
frequent, in  comparison of any other, that  it may
be considered as the general conduct of a fast fish.
   A whale struck near the edge of any  large sheet
of ice, and passing underneath it, will sometimes run
the whole of the lines out of the boat, in the space
of eight  or ten minutes of time.  This being the
case, when the  " fast-boat" is at a distance, both
from the ship and  from any other  boat,  it fre-
quently happens that the lines  are all  withdrawn
before  assistance arrives, and,  with the fish, en-
tirely lost.  In some cases, however, they are  re-
covered.   To retard, therefore, as much  as pos-
sible, the flight of the  whale,  it is usual for the
harpooner, who strikes it, to cast one, two,  or more
turns of line round a kind of post called a bollard;
which  is fixed within ten or twelve inches of the
stem of the boat, for the purpose.   Such is the fric-
tion of the line, when running round the  bollard,
that it frequently envelopes the harpooner in smoke;
and if the wood were not repeatedly wetted, would 
WHALE-FISHERY.
169
probably set fire to the boat.  During the capture
of one whale, a groove is sometimes cut in the bol-
lard, near an inch in depth; and,  were it not for a
plate of brass, iron, or a block of lignum-vitse, which
covers the top of the stem where  the line passes
over, it is apprehended that the action of the line on
the material of the boat, would cut it down to the wa-
ter's edge, in the course of one season of successful
fishing.  The approaching distress of a boat, for
want of line, is indicated by the elevation of an oar,
in the way of a mast, to which is  added a second,
a third, or even a fourth, in proportion  to the nature
of the exigence.   The utmost care and  attention are
requisite, on the part of every person in the boat,
when the lines are running out; fatal consequences
having been  sometimes produced  by the most tri-
fling neglect.   When  the  line  happens  " to run
foul," and can not be cleared on the instant, it some-
times draws the boat under water;  on which, if  no
auxiliary boat, or convenient piece of ice be at hand,
the crew are plunged into  the sea,  and are obliged
to trust to the  buoyancy of their oars, or to  their
skill in swimming, for supporting themselves on the
surface.  To provide against such  an  accident, as
well as to be ready to furnish an additional supply
of lines, it is usual, when boats are sent in pursuit, for
two to go out in company;  and when a whale has
been struck, for the  first assisting boat which ap-
proaches, to join the fast-boat, and to stay by it un-
til the fish re-appears.   The  other  boats, likewise,
   Vol. III.----22 
170             WHALE-FISHERY.
make towards the one carrying a flag, and surround
it at various distances,  awaiting the appearance of
the wounded whale.
  On my first voyage to the whale-fishery, such an
accident, as above alluded to,  occurred.  A thou-
sand fathoms of line were already out, and the fast-
boat was forcibly pressed against the side of a piece
of ice.   The harpooner, in his anxiety to retard the
flight of the whale, applied  too many turns of the
line  round the bollard, which, getting entangled,
drew the boat beneath the ice.  Another boat, pro-
videntially, was at hand, into  which the crew, in-
cluding myself, who happened to be present, had
just  time  to escape.  The  whale,  with near two
miles length of line, was,  in  consequence of  the
accident, lost, but the boat  was recovered.   On a
subsequent occasion, I underwent a similar misad-
venture, but with a happier result; we escaped with a
little wetting  into an accompanying boat, and  the
whale was afterwards captured, and the boat with
its lines recovered.
  When fish  have been struck by  myself, I have
on different occasions estimated their rate of descent.
For the first 300 fathoms, the average velocity was
usually after the rate of eight to ten  miles per hour.
In one  instance, the third line of 120 fathoms was
run out in 61 seconds; that is at the rate of 8* En-
glish miles, or 71 nautical miles per hour.  By the
motions of the  fast-boat, the simultaneous movements
of the whale are estimated.   The  auxiliary boats. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
171
accordingly, take their  stations  about the situation
where the whale, from these motions, may reason-
ably be expected to appear.
  The  average  stay  under water, of a wounded
whale, which steadily descends  after being struck,
according to the most usual conduct of the animal,
is about 30 minutes.  The longest I ever observed
was 56 minutes; but in shallow water, I have been
informed, it has  sometimes been known to remain
an hour and a half at the bottom after being struck,
and yet has  returned to  the surface alive.  The
greater the velocity, the more considerable the dis-
tance  to which it descends; and the longer the time
it remains under water, so much greater in propor-
tion is the extent of its exhaustion and the consequent
facility of accomplishing its capture.  Immediately
that it reappears, the assisting boats make for the place
with their utmost speed, and as they reach it, each
harpooner plunges his harpoon into its back, to the
amount of three, four, or more, according to  the
size of the whale, and the nature of the situation.
Most frequently,  however, it descends for a few
minutes  after receiving the second harpoon, and
obliges the other boats to await its return to  the
surface, before any further attack can be made.   It
is afterwards actively plied with lances, which are
thrust into its body, aiming at its vitals.  At length,
when exhausted by numerous wounds and the loss
of blood, which  flows from the huge animal in  c6-
pious streams, it indicates the approach of its dis- 
172             WHALE-FISHERY.
solution, by discharging from its  " blowholes,"  a
mixture of blood  along  with  the air  and mucus
which it usually expires, and finally jets of blood
alone.  The sea, to a great extent around, is dyed
with  its  blood, and the ice, boats, and men, are
sometimes drenched  with the same.  Its  track is
likewise marked by a broad pellicle of oil, which
exudes from its wounds, and appears on the surface
of the sea.   Its final capture is sometimes preceded
by a  convulsive struggle, in which, its tail, rear-
ed, whirled, and violently jerked in the  air, re-
sounds to the distance of miles.   In dying, it turns
on its back or on its side; which joyful circum-
stance is announced by the  capturers with  the
striking of their flags, accompanied by  three lively
huzzas!
   The remarkable exhaustion observed in the first
appearance of a wounded whale at the surface, after
a  descent of 700  or  800 fathoms perpendicular,
does not depend on the nature of  the wound it has
received; for a hundred superficial wounds  received
from harpoons, could not have the effect of a single
lance penetrating the vitals, but   is the effect of
the almost incredible pressure to which the animal
must have been exposed.   The surface of the body
of a large whale, may be considered as comprising
an area of 1540 square feet.  This, under  the com-
mon  weight of the  atmosphere only, must sustain a
pressure of 3,104,640 pounds, or  1386 tons.   But
at the depth of 800  fathoms, where there is a column 
WHALE-FISHERY.
173
 of water equal in weight to about 154 atmospheres,
 the pressure on the animal must be equal to 211,200
 tons.*  This  is a degree of pressure of which we
 can  have  but  an imperfect  conception.  It may
 assist our comprehension, however, to be informed,
 that it exceeds in weight sixty of the largest ships
 of the British navy when  manned, provisioned, and
 fitted for a six months cruise.
   Every boat fast to a living whale carries a flag,
 and the ship to which such boats belong, also wears
 a flag, until the whale is either  killed or makes its
 escape.  These signals serve  to indicate to  sur-
 rounding ships the exclusive title of the " fast ship,"
 to the entangled whale, and to prevent their inter-
 ference,  excepting in the  way  of assistance, in the
 capture.
   A very natural inquiry connected with this sub-
ject, is, what is the length of time  requisite for cap-
  * From experiments made with sea-water taken up near
Spitzbergen, I find that 35 Cubical  feet weigh a ton.
Now supposing a whale to descend to the  depth of 800
fathoms or 4800 feet, which, I believe, is not uncommon,
we have only to divide 4800 feet, the length of the column
of water pressing upon the whale, by 35 feet, the length of a
column of sea-water a foot square, weighing a ton, the quo-
tient 137 1-7, shows the pressure per square foot  upon the
whale, in tons; which multiplied by 1540, the number  of
square feet of surface exposed by the animal, affords a pro-
duct of  211,200 tons, besides the usual pressure of the at-
mosphere. 
174             WHALE-FISHERY.
turing a whale?  This is a question which can only
be answered indirectly; for I have myself witnessed
the capture of a large whale, which has been effect-
ed in twenty-eight minutes; and have also been en-
gaged with another fish which was lost, after it had
been entangled about sixteen hours.   Instances are
well authenticated, in which  whales have  yielded
their lives to the lances of active fishers, within the
space of fifteen minutes  from the  time of being
struck; and in cases  when fish have been shot with
a harpoon-gun, in a still shorter period; while other
instances are equally familiar and certain, wherein
a whale having gained the shelter of a pack or com-
pact patch of ice, has sustained or avoided every
attack  upon it, during the space of forty  or fifty
hours.   Some whales have  been  captured when
very slightly entangled  with  a single harpoon,
while others have disengaged themselves, though
severely wounded with lances, by a single act, of
violent  and  convulsive distortion of  the body,  or
tremendous  shake of the tail, from four or more
harpoons; in which act, some of the  lines have been
broken with  apparent ease, and the harpoons,  to
which other lines were attached, either broken or
torn out of the body of the vigorous animal.  Gene-
rally, the speedy capture of a whale  depends  on
the activity of the harpooners, the favourableness
of situation and weather, and, in no inconsiderable
degree, on the  peculiar conduct of the whale  at-
tacked.  Under the  most favourable circumstances, 
WHALE-FISHERY.
175
namely, when the fishermen are very active, the ice
very open, or the sea free from ice and the weather
fine,—the average length of time occupied in the
capture of a whale, may be stated as not exceeding
an hour.*  The general average, including all sizes
of fish, and all circumstances of capture, may pro-
bably be two or three hours.
   The method practised in  the capture of  whales,
under  favourable circumstances,  is  very  uniform
with all the fishers, both  British and foreigners.
The only variation observable  in  the  proceedings
of the different fishers, consisting in the degree of
activity and  resolution  displayed, in pursuance of
the operations of harpooning and lancing the whale,
and in the address manifested in improving by any
accidental movement of the fish, which may lay it
open  to  an  effectual attack,—rather than in  any
thing different or superior in the general method of
conducting the fishery.  It is true, that with some
the harpoon-gun  is  much  valued, and used  with
advantage, while with others, it is held in prejudiced
aversion; yet, as this difference of opinion affects
  * Twelve large whales, taken in different voyages, memo-
randa of whose capture I have preserved, were killed, on an
average, in 67 minutes. The shortest time expended in the
taking  of one of the  twelve whales, was 28 minutes, the
longest time 2 hours.  One of these whales we  believed,
descended  670 fathoms perpendicular; another 720; and a
third 750, one descended  1400 fathoms obliquely, and ano-
ther 1600 fathoms. 
176             WHALE-FISHERY.
only the first attack and entanglement of the whale,
the subsequent proceedings with all the fishers, may
still be said to be founded on equal and unanimous
principles.   Hence, the mode described in the pre-
ceding pages, of conducting the fishery for whales
under favourable circumstances, may be considered
as the general plan pursued by all the fishers  of all
the ports of Britain, a3 well as those of the nations
who  resort to  Spitzbergen.   Neither is there any
difference in the plan of attack, or mode of capture
between  fish of  large  size,  and  those of  lesser
growth; the proceedings are the same, but, of course,
with the smaller  whales less force is requisite;
though it sometimes  happens, that, the trouble  at-
tached to the killing of a very small whale, exceeds
that connected with the capture of one  of the larg-
est individuals.   The progress or flight of a large
whale  can not be restrained; but that of an  under
size fish may generally be confined within the limits
of 400 to 600 fathoms of line.  A full grown fish
generally occupies the whole, or nearly the whole,
of the boats  belonging to one ship in  its  capture:
but three, four, or sometimes  more small fish, have
been killed at the same time, by six or seven boats.
It is not unusual  for small whales to run downward,
until they exhaust themselves so completely, that
they are  not  able to return to the surface, but  are
suffocated in the water.   As  it is requisite  that a
whale that has been drowned should be drawn up
by the line, which is a tedious  and  troublesome 
WHALE-FISHERY.
177
 operation, it is usual to guard against such an event
 by  resisting  its descent with a light strain on  the
 line, and also by hauling upon the line, the moment
 its descent is stopped, with a view of irritating the
 wound, and  occasioning such a degree of pain, as
 may induce it to return to the surface, where  it  can
 be killed and secured without further trouble. Sel-
 dom more than two harpoons are struck into an  un-
 der size whale.
   The ease  with which some whales are subdued,
 and the slightness of the entanglement  by which
 they are taken, is truly surprising; but  with others
 it is equally  astonishing, that neither line nor har-
 poon, nor any number of each, is sufficiently strong
 to effect their capture.   Many  instances  have  oc-
 curred where whales have escaped, from four, five,
 or even more  harpoons, while  fish, equally large,
 have been killed  through the medium of a single
 harpoon.   Indeed, whales have been taken in con-
 sequence of the entanglement of a line, without any
 harpoon at all; though, when such a case has occur-
 red, it has evidently been the result of accident. The
 following instances are in point.
   A whale was struck from one of the boats of the
 ship Nautilus, in Davis's Straits.  It was killed,
 and as is usual after the capture, it was disentangled
of the line connected  with the " first fast-boat,"  by
dividing it at  the splice  of the foreganger, within
eight or nine yards of the harpoon.  The crew  of
the boat from  which the fish was first struck, in the
  Vol. III.----23 
178
WHALE-FISHERY.
meantime were employed in heaving in the lines,
by  means  of  a winch fixed in  the boat for the
purpose, which they progressively effected for some
time.   On a sudden, however, to their great aston-
ishment, the lines were  pulled  away from them,
with the same force aud violence,  as by a whale
when first struck.  They repeated their  signal, in-
dicative  of a whale  being struck; their shipmates
flocked towards them, and while every one express-
ed a similar degree of astonishment with themselves,
they all agreed that a fish was fast to the line.  In a
few minutes, they were agreeably confirmed in their
opinion, and relieved from suspense, by the rising
of a large whale close by them, exhausted with fa-
tigue,  and  having every appearance of a fast-fish.
It permitted itself to be struck by several harpoons
at once, and was speedily killed.  On examining it
after death, for discovering the cause of such an in-
teresting accident, they found the line, belonging to
the above mentioned boat, iu its mouth, where it was
still firmly fixed by the compression of its lips. The
occasion of this happy and puzzling accident, was
therefore solved;—the end of the line, after being
cut from the whale  first killed, was in the act of
sinking in the water; the fish in question, engaged
in feeding,  was advancing with its mouth  wide open,
and accidentally caught the line between its extend-
ed jaws;—asensation so utterly unusual as that pro-
duced  by the line, had induced it to shut its mouth
and grasp the line, which was the cause of its alarm, 
t
                 WHALE-FISHERY.             179
 so firmly between its lips, as to produce the effect
 just  stated.   This circumstance  took place many
 years ago, but a similar one occurred in the year
 1814.
   A  harpooner, belonging to the Prince of Brazil,
 of Hull, had struck a small fish.   It descended, and
 remained for some time quiet, and atlength appeared
 to be  drowned. The strain on the line being then con-
 siderable, it was taken to the ship, with a view of
 heaving the fish up. The force requisite for perform-
 ing this operation, was extremely various; sometimes,
 the line came in with ease, at others, a quantity was
 withdrawn with great force and rapidity.  As such,
 it appeared  evident  that  the fish was yet alive.
 The  heaving, however, was persisted in, and after
 the greater part of the lines had been drawn on board,
 a  dead fish  appeared at the surface, secured by
 several turns of the line round its body.  It was
 disentangled with difficulty, and was  confidently
 believed to be the whale  they had  struck.  But
 when the line was cleared from the fish, it proved
 to be merely  the " bight,"  for the end still hung
 perpendicularly downward.  What was then their
 surprise to find that  it was still pulled away with
 considerable force.  The capstern was again resort-
 ed to,  and shortly afterwards, they hove up, also
 dead, the fish originally struck,  with the  har-
 poon  still  fast.   Hence it appeared, that the fish
first drawn up, had got accidentally entangled with
the line, and in its struggles to escape, had still fur- 
180
WHALE-FISHERY.
ther involved itself, by winding the line repeatedly
round its body.   The first fish entangled,  as was
suspected, had long been dead; and it was this lucky
interloper, that occasioned the  jerks and other sin-
gular effects observed on the line.


Alterations produced in the manner of conducting the
    Fishery, by peculiar Circumstances of Situation
    and Weather.

  Hitherto I have  only attempted  to  describe  the
method adopted for the capture of whales, under fa-
vourable circumstances, such as occur in open water
or amongst open  ice in  fine weather;  as,  however,
this method is subject to  various alterations, when
the situation and circumstances are peculiar, I shall
venture a few remarks on the subject.
  1. Pack-fishing.—The borders of close packs of
drift ice are  frequently a favourite resort of  large
whales. To attack them in such a situation, subjects
the fisher to great risk in his lines and boats, as well
as uncertainty in effecting their capture.  When a
considerable  swell prevails on the borders of the
ice, the whales, on being  struck, will sometimes re-
cede from the pack, and  become the prize of their
assailers; but most generally  flee to it for shelter,
and frequently make their escape. To guard against
the loss of lines as much as possible, it is  pretty
usual either  to strike two harpoons from different
boats at the same  moment, or to bridle the lines of 
WHALE-FISHERY.             181
a second boat  upon those of the boat from which
the fish is struck.  This operation consists in fixing
other lines to those of the fast-boat at some distance
from the harpoon, so that there is only one harpoon
and one line immediately attached to the fish, but
the double strength of a line from the place of their
junction to  the boats.  Hence, should fish flee di-
rectly into  the  ice, and proceed to  an inaccessible
distance, the two boats, bearing an equalstra in on
each of their lines, can at pleasure draw the  har-
poon, or break the single part of the line immedi-
ately connected with it,  and in either  case, secure
themselves against any considerable loss.
  When a pack, for its compactness, prevents boats
from penetrating, the men travel over the ice, leap-
ing from piece  to piece, in pursuit  of the entangled
whale.  In this pursuit, they carry lances with them
and sometimes  harpoons, with which,  whenever
they  can approach the fish, they attack it, and if
they succeed in killing it, they drag it towards the
exterior margin of the ice, by means of the line
fastened to the  harpoon with which it was  origin-
ally struck. In such cases, it is generally an object
of importance to sink it beneath the ice;  for effect-
ing which purpose, each lobe of the tail is divided
from the body, excepting a small portion of the edge,
from  which it hangs pendulous in the water.  If it
still floats, bags of sand, kedges or small  cannon,
are suspended  by a block on the bight of the line,
wherewith the  buoyancy of the dead whale is usu- 
182             WHALE-FISHERY.
ally overcome.  It then sinks, and is easily hauled
out by the line into the open sea.
  To particularize all the variety of pack-fishing,
arising from winds and weather, size of the fish, state
and peculiarities of the ice, &c. would require more
space than  the  interest  of the subject, to general
readers, would justify.  I shall, therefore, only re-
mark, that pack-fishing is, on the whole, the most
troublesome and dangerous of all others;—that in-
stances have occurred of fish having been entangled
during 40  or  50  hours,  and have escaped after
all;—and that other instances are  remembered, of
ships having lost  the greater part of their stock of
lines, several of their boats, and sometimes, though
happily, less  commonly, some individuals of their
crews.
  2. Field-fishing.—The fishery for whales, when
conducted at the margin of those wonderful  sheets
of solid ice, called fields, is, when the weather is
fine, and the  refuge for ships secure,  of all other
situations which the fishery of Greenland presents,
the most agreeable and sometimes the most produc-
tive.   A fish struck at the margin of a large field of
ice, generally descends obliquely beneath it, takes
four to eight lines from the fast-boat, and  then re-
turns exhausted to the edge.  It is then attacked in
the usual way, with  harpoons and lances,  and is
easily killed.  There is one evident advantage in
field-fishings which is this: When  the fast-boat lies
at the  edge  of  a firm  unbroken  field, and the 
WHALE-FISHERY.             183
line  proceeds in an angle beneath the ice, the fish
must necessarily arise somewhere in a semicircle,
described from  the  fast-boat as a centre,  with a
sweep not exceeding the length of the lines out; but
most generally it appears in a line extending along
the margin of the ice, so that the boats, when  dis-
persed along the edge  of the field, are  effectual
and as ready for promoting the capture as twice the
number of boats  or more, when fishing in open situ-
atiosfc because,  in open situations, the whale may
arise any where  within a circle, instead of a semicir-
cle,  described by the length of the lines  withdrawn
from the fast-boat; whence, it frequently happens,
that  all the attendant boats are disposed in a wrong
direction, and the fish  recovers its breath,  breaks
loose, and escapes before any of them can secure it
by a  second harpoon. Hence, when a ship fishes at a
field  with an ordinary crew, and six or seven boats,
two  of the largest fish may be struck at the same
time with every  prospect of success; while the same
force attempting the capture of two at  once in an
open situation, will,  not unfrequently, occasion the
loss  of both. There have indeed been instances of
a ship's crew, with seven  boats,  striking at  a field,
six fish at the same  time,  and of success in  killing
the whole. Generally speaking,  six boats at a field
are  capable of  performing the same  execution  as
near twice that number in open situations. Besides,
fields sometimes afford an opportunity of fishing,
when in  any other situation there can be little or no 
184             WHALE-FISHERY.
chance of success, or, indeed, when to fish else-
where is utterly impracticable.  Thus calms, storms,
and fogs, are great annoyances in the fishery in gene-
ral,  and frequently  prevent  it altogether; but  at
fields the fishery goes on under any of these disad-
vantages.   As there  are several important advan-
tages attending the fishery at fields,  so, likewise,
there are some serious disadvantages, chiefly  relat-
ing to the safety of the ships engaged in the  occu-
pation.   The motions of fields  are  rapid, various,
and unaccountable, and the power with which they
approach  each other, and squeeze  every resisting
object, immense,—hence occasionally vast mischief
is produced, which it is not always in the power of
the most skilful and attentive master to foresee and
prevent.
  Such are the principal advantages and disad-
vantages of fields of ice to the whale-fishers.  The
advantages, however, as above enumerated, though
they extend to large floes, do not extend to  small
floes, or to such fields, how large soever they may
be, as contain tracks or holes, or are filled up with
thin ice on the interior.   Large and firm fields are
the most convenient,  and likewise the most advan-
tageous for the fishery;  the most convenient, be-
cause the whales, unable to breathe beneath a  close
extensive field of ice,  are obliged to make their ap-
pearance again above water among the boats on the
look out; aud they are most advantageous, because
not only the most fish  commonly resort to them, but a 
                 WHALE-FISHERY.             185
 greater number can be killed with less force, and in a
 short space of time, than in any other situation. Thin
 fields, or fields full of holes, being by no means ad-
 vantageous to fish by, are usually avoided, because
 a "fast-fish,"  retreating under  such a field,  can
 respire through  the  holes in the centre as conve-
 niently as  on the exterior; and a large fish usually
 proceeds from one hole to another, and if determin-
 ed to advance can not possibly be stopped. In  this
 case, all that can be done is, to break the line or draw
 the harpoon out.   But when the fish can  be observ-
 ed " blowing," in any of the holes in a field,  the
 men travel over  the  ice and attack it with lances,
 pricking it over the  nose,  to endeavour to turn  it
 back.   This scheme, however,  does not always
 answer the expectations of the fishers, as frequent-
 ly the fear of his  enemies acts so powerfully on the
 whale, that he pushes forward to  the interior to his
 dying moment.  When killed, the same  means are
 used as in pack-fishing, to sink it, but they do not
 always succeed; for the harpoon is frequently drawn
 out,  or the line broken in the attempt.   If, there-
 fore, no attempt to sink the fish avails,  there is
 scarcely  any other practicable method of  making
 prize of  it, (unless when  the ice happens  to be so
 thin that it can be broken with a boat, or a  channel
readily cut in it with  an ice saw,) than cutting the
blubber away, and dragging it piece by piece across
the ice to the vessel, which requires immense labour
and is attended with vast loss of time.  Hence,  we
   Vol. III.-----24 
186
WHALE-FISHERY.
have a sufficient reason for avoiding such situations
whenever fish can be found elsewhere.   As con-
nected with this subject, I can not pass over a cir-
cumstance which occurred within my own observa-
tion, and which excited my highest admiration.
  On the 8th of  July, 1813, the ship Esk lay by
the edge of a large sheet of ice, in which were seve-
ral thin parts, and some  holes.  Here a fish being
heard blowing, a  harpoon, with a line connected to
it, was  conveyed across the ice, from  a boat  on
guard, and the harpooner succeeded in striking the
whale, at the distance of 350 yards from the verge.
It dragged out ten lines, (2400 yards,) and was sup-
posed  to be seen  blowing in different holes  in  the
ice.  After some  time, it happened to  make its  ap-
pearance on the exterior, when a harpoon was struck
at the  moment it was on  the  point of proceed-
ing again  beneath.  About a hundred yards from
the edge, it  broke  the  ice  where it was a foot in
thickness, with its crown, and respired through the
opening.  It then determinately pushed forward,
breaking the  ice as it advanced, in spite of the lances
constantly directed against it. It reached at length a
kind of bason in the field, where it floated on the sur-
face of the water,  without any incumbrance from  ice.
Its back being fairly exposed, the harpoon,  struck
from the boat on  the outside, was observed to be so
slightly entangled, that it was  ready to drop  out.
Some of the officers lamented this circumstance, and
expressed a wish that the harpoon were better fast, 
WHALE-FISHERY.
187
 observing, at  the same time, that  if it should slip
 out, the fish would either be lost, or they would be
 under the necessity of flensing it where it lay, and
 of dragging the pieces of blubber over the ice to the
 ship; a kind and degree of labour, every one was
 anxious  to avoid.   No sooner was the wish ex-
 pressed, and its  importance made known, than one
 of the sailors, a smart and enterprising fellow, stept
 forward and volunteered his services to strike it bet-
 ter in. Not at all intimidated by the surprise which
 was  manifested in every countenance, by such  a
 bold  proposal,  he pulled out  his pocket-knife,
 leapt upon the back of the living whale, and imme-
 diately cut the  harpoon out.   Stimulated by this
 courageous example, one of  his companions pro-
 ceeded to his assistance.   While one of them haul-
 ed upon the line and held it in his  hands, the other
set his shoulder  against the extremity of the har-
 poon,  and though it was  without a stock, he con-
 trived to strike it again into the fish more  effectually
 than it was at first;  the fish was in  motion before
they  finished.   After they got. off its back, it ad-
 vanced a considerable distance, breaking the ice all
 the way, and survived this uncommon  treatment,
 ten or fifteen minutes.   This admirable act was  an
 essential benefit.  The fish fortunately sunk spon-
taneously,  after being killed, on  which it was haul-
 ed out to the edge of the ice by the line, and secur-
 ed  without further  trouble.    It  proved  a stout
whale, and a very acceptable prize. 
188
WHALE-FISHERY.
   When a ship approaches a considerable field of
ice, and finds whales, it is usual to moor to the lee-
ward side of it, from which the adjoining ice usual-
ly first separates.  Boats are then placed on watch,
on each side  of the ship,  and stationed  at inter-
vals of 100 or 150 yards from  one another, along
the edge of the ice.  Hence,  if a fish  arises any
where between the extreme boats, it seldom escapes
unhurt.   It is not uncommon for a great number of
ships to moor to the same sheet of ice.   When the
whale fishery of the Hollanders was in a flourishing
state, above 100 sail of ships might sometimes  be
seen moored to the same field of ice, each having two
or more boats on watch. The field would,  in conse-
quence, be so nearly surrounded with boats, that it
Was  almost impossible for a fish to rise  near  the
verge of the ice, without being within the limits of
a start of some  of them.
   3. Fishing in crowded ice, or in open packs.—In
navigably open drift ice, or among small detached
streams and patches, either of which serve in a de-
gree to  break the  force of the  sea, and to prevent
any  considerable swell from arising,  we have a
situation,  which is considered  as one of the  best
possible for conducting the fishery in; consequent-
ly, it comes under the same denomination as those
favourable situations, in which I have first attempted
to describe the proceedings of the fishers in killing
the whale.   But the situation I now mean to refer
to, is, when the ice is crowded and nearly close; so 
WHALE-FISHERY.
189
close, indeed, that it scarcely affords room for boats
to pass through it, and by no means sufficient space
for a ship to be navigated among it.  This kind of
situation occurs in somewhat open packs, or in large
patches  of crowded ice,  and affords a fair proba-
bility of capturing a whale,  though it is seldom ac-
complished without a considerable degree of trou-
ble.  When  the  ice is very crowded,  and  the
ship can not sail into it with propriety, it is usual
to  seek out  for  a mooring to some large mass of
ice, if  such can be found,  extending  two or three
fathoms or more, under water.  A piece  of ice of
this kind, is  capable not only of holding the ship
" head-to-wind," but also to windward of the smal-
ler ice.   The  boats then set out in chase of any
fish which may be seen; and when one happens to
be  struck, they proceed in the capture in a similar
manner as when in more favourable circumstances,
excepting so far as the obstruction which the quality
and arrangement of the ice may offer, to the regular
system of proceeding.   Among crowded ice, for in-
stance,  the precise direction pursued by the fish is
not easily ascertained,  nor can  the fish  itself  be
readily discovered on its first arrival at the surface,
after being struck, on account of the elevation of the
intervening masses of ice,  and the great quantity of
line it  frequently  takes from the fast-boat.  Success
in  such  a situation, depends on the boats  being
spread widely  abroad, and on a judicious arrange-
ment of each boat: on a keen look  out  on the part 
190
WHALE-FISHERY.
of the harpooners in the boat, and on their occasion-
ally taking the benefit of a hummock of ice, from
the elevation of which the fish  may  sometimes be
seen  " blowing" in the interstices of the ice;  on
pushing or rowing the boats with the greatest imagi-
nable celerity, towards the place where the fish may
have been seen; and, lastly, on the exercise of the
highest degree of  activity and despatch in  every
proceeding.
  If these means be neglected, the fish will  gene-
rally have taken his breath, renewed its strength,
and removed to some other quarter, before the arrival
of the boats; and it is  often remarked, that if there
be  one  part of the ice  more crowded or more diffi-
cult of access than another,  it commonly retreats
thither  for refuge.   In such cases, the sailors find
much difficulty in  getting to it with their boats,
having to  separate  majry pieces of ice before they
can pass through  between  them.   But when it is
not practicable to move the pieces, and when they
can not  travel over  them, they must either drag the
boats  across the intermediate ice, or perform an ex-
tensive  circuit, before  they can reach the opposite
side of the close ice, into which the  whale has
retreated.
  A second harpoon, in this case, as  indeed in  all
others, is a material point.   They proceed to lance
whenever  a second  harpoon is  struck, and  strike
more harpoons as the auxiliary boats  progressively
arrive at the place. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
191
  When the fish is killed, it is often at a distance
from the ship, and so circumstanced, that the ship
can not get  near it.  In such  cases, the fish  must
be towed by the boats to  the ship; an  operation
which, in crowded ice, is most troublesome and la-
borious.
  4. Bay-ice fishing.—Bay-ice constitutes a situa-
tion, which, though not particularly dangerous, is
yet, on the whole,  one of the most troublesome in
which whales are killed.   In sheets of bay-ice, the
whales find  a very effectual  shelter; for so long as
the ice will not " carry a man," they can not be ap-
approached  with a boat, without producing such a
noise, as most certainly warns them of the  intended
assault.  And if a whale, by some favourable acci-
dent, were struck, the difficulties of completing the
capture are always numerous, and sometimes prove
insurmountable.  The whale having free locomo-
tion  beneath the ice,  the  fishers  pursue  it  under
great disadvantage.  The fishers can not push their
boats towards it but with extreme difficulty; while
the whale,  invariably warned by the noise of their
approach, possesses every facility for  avoiding its
enemies.  In the year 1813, I adopted a new  plan
of fishing in bay-ice, which  was attended  with the
most fortunate result.  The ship under  my com-
mand (the Esk of Whitby)  was frozen into a sheet
of bay-ice, included in a triangular space, formed
by  massive  fields and floes.   Here a  number of
small  whales were  seen  sporting  around us, in 
192
WHALE-FISHERY.
every little  hole or space in the bay-ice, and occa-
sionally they were observed  to break through it,
for the purpose of breathing. In various little open-
ings, free of ice, near  the ship, few of which were
twenty  yards in diameter,  we placed boats; each
equipped with a harpoon and lines, and directed
by two or three men.  They had  orders to place
themselves in such a situation, that if a fish appear-
ed in the same opening, they could scarcely fail of
striking it.  Previous to this, I provided myself with
a  pair of ice shoes, consisting of two  pieces of thin
deal, six feet in  length,  and  seven in breadth.
They were  made very thin at both  ends;  aud, in
the centre of each, was  a hollow place  exactly
adapted  for the reception of the sole of my boot,
with a loop of leather for confining the toes.   I was
thus enabled to retain the ice shoes pretty firmly to
my feet,  when required, or, when  I  wished it, of
disengaging them in a moment.  Where the ice was
smooth, it was easy to move in a straight line; but,
in turning, I  found a considerable difficulty, and
required some practice before 1 could effect it, with-
out falling.  I advanced, with tolerable speed, when
the ice  was  level  on  the  surface, by sliding  the
shoes alternately forward,  but when I  met with
rough hilly places, I  experienced great, inconve-
nience.   When, however, the rough places happen-
ed to consist of strong ice, which generally was the
case, I stepped out of my ice shoes, until I reached
a weaker part.  Equipped  with this apparatus, I 
WHALE-FISHERY.
193
 travelled safely over ice which had not been frozen
 above twenty-four hours, and which was incapable
 of supporting the weight of the smallest boy in the
 ship.
   Whenever a fish was struck, I gave orders to the
 harpooner, in running the lines, to use every means
 of drowning it; the trouble of hauling it up, under
 the  circumstances in which the ship  was placed,
 being a matter of no consideration.   This was at-
 tempted,  by holding a steady tight strain on the
 line, without slacking it or jerking it unnecessarily,
 and by forbearing to  haul at the line when the fish
 was stopped.  By this measure, one fish, the stout-
 est  of  the three  we got, was  drowned.  When
 others were struck, and the attempt to  drown them
 failed, I provided myself with a harpoon; and, ob-
 serving the direction  of the line, travelled towards
 the place where  I  expected the fish  to rise.  A
 small boat was launched, more leisurely, in the
 same direction, for my support;  and whenever the
 ice in my  track was capable of  supporting a man,
 assistance was afforded  me in dragging the line.
 When the wounded fish appeared, I struck my har-
 poon through the ice, and then, with some occasional
 assistance, proceeded to lance it, until it was killed.
 At different times the fish rose  beneath my feet, and
broke the  ice on  which I stood; on one  occasion,
when the  ice was fortunately more than usually
strong,  I was obliged to  leave  my ice-shoes and
skip off.  In this  way we  captured three fish, and
  Vol.  III.----35 
194             WHALE-FISHERY.
took their produce on board,  while  several ships
near us made not the least progress in  the fishery.
After they were killed, we had much trouble in get-
ting them to the  ship, but as we could not employ
ourselves to advantage in  any other way, we were
well satisfied with the issue.   This part of the busi-
ness, however, I could not  effect alone,  and  all
hands who were occasionally employed in it, broke
through the ice.  Some individuals  broke  in two
or three times, but no serious  accident ensued.   As
a precaution, we extended a rope from man to man,
which was held in the hands of each in their pro-
gress across  the ice, and which served for drawing
those out of the water who happened to  break
through.  Sometimes ten or a dozen of them wrould
break in at once; but so far was such an occurrence
from exciting distress, that each of their companions
indulged a laugh at their ^expense, notwithstanding
they, probably, shared  the same  fate a minute  or
two afterwards.   The shivering tars were, in gene-
ral, amply repaid for the  drenching they had suf-
fered, by a  dram of spirits,  which they regularly
received on  such occasions.   I have seen instances,
indeed, of sailors having voluntarily broken through
the ice, for the mere purpose of receiving the usual
precious beverage.
   5. Fishing in Storms.—Excepting in situations
sheltered from the sea by  ice, it would be alike
useless  and  presumptuous to attempt to kill whales
during  a storm.  Cases,  however, occur, wherein 
WHALE-FISHERY.
195
 fish that were struck during fine weather, in winds
 which do not prevent the boats from plying about,
 remain entangled, but  unsubdued, after the com-
 mencement  of a storm.   Sometimes  the capture is
 completed, at others the fishers are  under the ne-
 cessity of cutting the lines, and allowing the fish to
 escape.  Sometimes, when they have succeeded in
 killing it, and in securing it during the gale with a
 hawser to the  ship, they are enabled  to  make a
 prize of it  on  the return of moderate weather; at
 others, after having it  to appearance  secured, by
 means of a sufficient rope, the dangerous proximity
 of a lee  pack constrains them to cut it adrift and
 abandon it,  for the  preservation of their vessel.
 After thus being abandoned, it becomes the  prize
 of the first who gets possession of it, though it be
 in the face of the original capturers.  A storm com-
 mencing while the boats are engaged  with an en-
 tangled fish, sometimes  occasions serious disasters.
 Generally, however, though they suffer the loss of
 the fish, and perhaps some of their boats and  mate-
 rials, yet the men escape with their lives.
  6. Fishing in Foggy Weather.—The fishery in
 storms, in exposed situations, can never be volun-
 tary, as the  case only happens when a storm arises
 subsequent to the time of a  fish being  struck; but
 in foggy weather, though occasionally attended with
 hazard, the  fishery is not altogether impracticable.
 The fogs which occur  in the icy  regions in  June
and July, are generally dense and lastiug.   They 
196             WHALE-FISHERY.
are so thick, that objects can not be distinguished
at the distance of 100 or 150 yards, and frequently
continue for several days without attenuation.   To
fish with safety and success, during a thick fog, is,
therefore, a matter of difficulty, and of still greater
uncertainty.  When it happens that a fish conducts
itself favourably, that is, descends almost perpen-
dicularly, and on its return to  the surface remains
nearly stationary, or moves round in a small circle,
the capture is usually accomplished without hazard
or particular difficulty; but when, on the  contrary,
it  proceeds with any considerable velocity  in a
horizontal direction,  or  obliquely  downwards,  it
soon drags the  boats out of sight of the ship,  and
shortly so confounds  the fishers in the  intensity of
the mist,  that they lose  all traces of the situation
of their  vessel.  If the fish, iu its flight, draws them
beyond  the reach of the sound of a bell, or a horn,
their  personal  safety becomes endangered;  and if
they are removed beyond the sound of a cannon,
their situation becomes extremely hazardous, espe-
cially if no other ships  happen to be in the imme-
diate vicinity.  Meanwhile, whatever may be their
imaginary or real danger, the mind of their  com-
mander must be kept  in the most anxious  suspense
until they are found;  and whether they may be in
safety, or near  perishing with fatigue, hunger  and
cold, so long as he is  uncertain, his anxiety must be
the same.   Hence it is, that feelings excited by un-
certainty are frequently more violent and distress- 
                 WHALE-11SHERY.             197
 ing than those produced by the actual knowledge of
 the truth.
   Keen and  vigilant observance of the direction
 pursued by the whale, on the part  of the persons
 engaged in the chase, and a corresponding observ-
 ance of the same by their commanders, can be the
 only means within the power of each party of secur-
 ing the ship and boats from being widely separated,
 without knowing what course to pursue for re-unit-
 ing them'.  Much depends on the people employed
 in the boats using every known means to arrest the
 progress of the fish in its flight, by attacking it with
 the most skilful, active, and persevering efforts, un-
 til it  is killed; and then, as speedily as may be, of
 availing themselves of the intimation they may pos-
 sess relative to the position of the ship, for the pur-
 pose of rejoining her.  But as their knowledge of the
 direction of their movements generally depends on
 the wind, unless  they happen to be  provided  with
 a compass, and have attentively marked their route
 by  its indications, any change in the direction of
 the wind,  must be attended with  serious couse-
 quences.

JLnecdotes illustrative of Peculiarities in the Whale
                    Fishery.
  On the 25th of June, 1812, one of the harpooners
belonging to the Resolution, of Whitby, under my
command,  struck a whale by  the edge of a small 
198
WHALE-FISHERY.
floe of ice.   Assistance being promptly afforded, a
second boat's lines were attached to those  of the
fast-boat; in a few  minutes after the harpoon was
discharged.  The remainder of the boats proceeded
to some distance, in the direction the fish seemed to
have taken. In about a quarter of an hour the fast-
boat, to my surprise, again made a signal for lines.
As the ship was then within five minutes sail, we
instantly steered towards the boat, with the view of
affording assistance, by means of a spare boat we
still  retained on  board.  Before we  reached the
place,  however, we observed four oars displayed in
signal  order, which,  by their number, indicated  a
most urgent necessity for assistance.  Two or three
men were, at the same time, seated close by the stern,
which  was considerably elevated, for the purpose of
keeping it down,—while the bow of the boat,  by the
force of the line, was drawn down to the level of the
sea,—and the harpooner, by the friction of the line
round  the  bollard,  was enveloped  in smoky  ob-
scurity.  At  length,  when the ship was  scarcely
100 yards  distant,  we perceived preparations for
quitting the boat. The sailors' /?ea-jackets were cast
upon  the adjoining  ice,—the oars  were thrown
down,—the crew leaped  overboard,—the bow of
of the boat  was buried in the water,—the stern rose
perpendicular, and then majestically  disappeared.
The  harpooner having caused the  end of the line
to be fastened to the iron ring at the boat's stern, was 
WHALE-FISHERY.
199
the means of its loss;* and a tongue of the ice, on
which was a depth of several feet of water, kept the
boat, by the pressure of the line against it, at such
a considerable  distance as prevented the crew from
leaping upon the floe.   Some of them were, there-
fore, put to the necessity of swimming for their pre-
servation, but  all of them succeeded in scrambling
upon the ice, and were taken aboard of the ship a few
minutes afterwards.  I may here observe, that it is
an  uncommon circumstance for a fish to  take more
than two boats' lines in  such a situation;—none of
our harpooners, therefore, had any scruple in leav-
ing the fast-boat, never suspecting, after it had re-
ceived the assistance of one boat, with six lines or
upwards, that it would need any more.
  Several ships being about us, there was a pos-
sibility that some  person might attack  and make
a prize of the  whale, when  it had so far escaped
us,  that  we no longer  retained any hold of it; as
such, we set all sail the ship could safely sustain,
and worked through several narrow and intricate
channels in the ice, in the direction I observed the
fish  had retreated.  After  a little time,  it was de-
  * " Giving a whale the boat" as the voluntary sacrifice of
a boat is termed, is a scheme not unfrequently practised by
the fisher, when in want of line.  By submitting to this risk,
he expects to gain the fish, and still has the chance of recov-
ering  his boat and its materials.  It is only practised in
open ice or at fields. 
200
WHALE-FISHERY.
 scried by the people in the  boats, at a considerable
 distance to the eastward; a general chase immediate-
 ly commenced, and  in  the  space of an  hour three
 harpoons were struck.   We now  imagined the fish  *
 was  secure, but our expectations were premature.
 The  whale resolutely pushed beneath a large floe
 that had recently been broke to pieces by the swell,
 and  soon drew  all the lines out of the second fast-
 boat, the officer of which, not being able to get any
 assistance, tied the end of his line to a hummock of
 ice,  and broke it.  Soon afterwards,  the other two
 boats, sti\\ fast, were dragged against the broken floe,
 when one of the harpoons drew out. The line of only
 one boat, therefore, remained  fast to the fish, and
 with  six or eight lines  out, was dragged forward
 into the shattered floe with astonishing force. Pieces  -
 of ice, each of which was sufficiently large to have
 answered the purpose  of mooring a ship,  were
 wheeled about by the strength of the whale; and
 such was the tension and elasticity of the line, that
 whenever it slipped clear of any mass of ice, after
 turning it round, into the space between any two ad-
joining  pieces, the boat and  its crew flew forward
 through  the  creek, with the velocity  of an arrow,
 and never failed  to launch several feet  upon the first
 mass of ice that it encountered.
   While we scoured the sea, around  the  broken
floe with the ship, aud while the ice was attempted
in vain  by the boats, the whale continued to press
forward in an easterly  direction towards the sea. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
201
 At length, when fourteen lines (about 1680 fathoms)
 were drawn from the fourth fast-boat, a slight en-
 tanglement of the line broke it at the stem.   The
 fish then again made its escape, taking along with
 it a boat and twenty-eight lines.  The united length
 of the lines was 6720 yards, or upwards of 3| En-
 glish miles; value, with the boat, above 150 pounds
 sterling.
   The obstruction of the sunken boat, to the pro-
 gress of the fish, must have been immense; and that
 of the lines likewise considerable; the weight  of the
 lines alone, being  35 hundred weight.
   So long as the  fourth fast-boat, through the me-
 dium of its lines,  retained its hold of the fish, we
 searched the adjoining sea  with the  ship in  vain;
 but, in  a short time  after the line was  divided, we
 got sight of the object of pursuit, at the distance of
 near two miles to the eastward of the ice and boats,
 in the open  sea.  One boat only with  lines, and
 two empty boats, were reserved by the ship.   Hav-
 ing, however, fortunately fine weather, and a fresh
 breeze of  wind, we immediately gave chase under
 all  sails; though, it must be  confessed, with the in-
 significant force by us, the distance of the fish, and
 the rapidity  of its flight considered, we had but
 very small hopes of success.  At length, after pur-
 suing it five or six miles, being at  least nine  miles
from  the place where  it was struck, we came up
 with it, and it seemed inclined  to rest after its ex-
traordinary exertions.   The two  dismantled or
  Vol. III.----26 
202
WHALE-FISHERY.
 empty boats having been furnished with two lines
 each,  (a  very inadequate  supply,)  they, together
 with the one in a good state of equipment, now
 made an attack upon the whale.  One of the har-
 pooners made a blunder; the fish saw the boat, took
 the alarm, and again fled.   I now supposed it would
 be seen no more; nevertheless, we chased nearly a
 mile in the direction I imagined  it had taken, and
 placed the  boats, to the best  of my judgment, in
 the most advantageous situations. Iu  this case we
 were extremely fortunate.   The fish rose near one
 of the boats, and was immediately harpooned.   In
 a few minutes, two more harpoons entered its back,
 and  lances were plied  against it with vigour and
 success.   Exhausted by its amazing  exertions to
 escape, it yielded itself at length to its fate, received
 the piercing wounds of the lances without resistance,
 and  finally died without a struggle.   Thus termi-
 nated with success, an attack upon a whale, which
 exhibited the most uncommon determination to es-
 cape from its pursuers, seconded  by the most ama-
 zing strength of any individual whose capture  I
 ever witnessed.   After all, it may seem surprising,
 that  it was not a particularly large individual; the
largest lamina of whalebone only measuring nine
feet  six inches,  while those affording twelve feet
bone are  not  uncommon.*  The quantity of line
  * It has been frequently observed, that whales of this size
are the most active of the species; and those of very large
growth are, in general, captured with less trouble. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
203
 withdrawn from the different boats engaged  in the
 capture, was singularly great.   It amounted, alto-
 gether, to  10,440  yards,* or nearly six English
 miles.  Of these, thirteen new lines  lost, together
 with the sunken boat; the harpoon connecting them to
 the fish, having dropt out before the whale was killed.
   After having taken a large circuit  with the ship
 Esk in the open sea in search of whales, we saw two
 or three individuals, when at the distance of about
 twenty miles from  the  middle hook of the  Fore-
 land.f  The weather was fine and no ice in sight.
 A boat was despatched towards one of the fish we
 saw, which was  immediately struck.  The men

  * The following is a correct statement of the quantity of
 lines withdrawn from each of the fast-boats, viz.
From the first fast-boat 13 new lines, (the whole
  of which, together with the boat, were lost,) har-
  poon drew,.......  3120
From the second fast-boat 65 lines; line broke,  -  -  1560
                       3s lines; harpoon drew, -   840
                        14 lines j line broke,    -  3360
                        s line j harpoon drew,  -   120
                       H lines,   do    do   -   600
                       1\ lines,   do    do   -   600
                       1 line,    do    do   -   240
Yards.
third	do
fourth	do
fifth	do
sixth	do
seventh	do
eighth	do
Total in yards  10,440
  t Charles Island, lying parallel to the west side of Spitz-
bergen, is  usually denominated the Foreland; the middle
Hook is a remarkable ridge of mountains near the middle
of the Island. 
204
WHALE-FISHERY.
were  already  considerably fatigued, having been
employed immediately before in the arduous opera-
tion  hereafter to  be described, called making off;
but, of course, proceeded in the boats to  the chase
of the fast fish.   It made its appearance before they
all had left the ship.   Three boats then approached
it, unluckily at the  same moment.   Each of them
so incommoded the other, that no second harpoon
could be struck.   The fish then took the alarm and
ran off towards the east, at the rate of about four
miles per hour; some of the boats  gave chase and
others took hold of the fast-boat and were towed by
it to windward. When two boats, by great exertions
on the part of their crews, had  got very near the
fish, and the harpooners were expecting every mo-
ment to be able to strike it, it suddenly  shifted its
course under water, and in a few minutes discover-
ed itself in a southerly direction,  at least half a
mile from  any boat.  It then completed a circuit
round the fast-boat, with the sweep of nearly a mile
as a radius, and though followed in  its track by the
boats, it dived before any of them  got near it, and
evaded them completely.  When it appeared again,
it  was at least half a mile to windward  of any of
them, and  then continued  arduously advancing  in
the same direction.   At various times during the
pursuit,  the boats  having the most indefatigable
crews, reached the fish  within ten or fifteen yards,
when, apparently aware of their design, it imme-
diately sunk  and changed  its course; so  that it in- 
WHALE-FISHERY.
205
variably made  its next  appearance in a quarter
where no boats  were near.
  The most general course of the whale being to
windward, it soon  withdrew all the boats many
miles from  the ship, notwithstanding our utmost
efforts, under a press of sail to keep near them.
  After six or seven hours pursuit without success,
the sky  became overcast, and we were suddenly en-
veloped for some time in the obscurity of a thick
fog.  In this interval the boats were all moored to
the fast-boat, the men being fearful of being dis-
persed; but on the disappearing of the fog, the pur-
suit was recommenced with renewed vigour.   Still
the  harpooners were not able to succeed.^   They
were now convinced of the necessity of using every
measure to retard the flight of the fish.   For this
purpose they slacked out nine  lines, a weight  in
air of llcwt., while the crew of the fast-boat en-
deavoured farther to retard its progress, by holding
their oars firmly in the water,  as if in  the act of
backing the boat astern.   But this plan did not suc-
ceed.   They then lashed  two or three boats with
their sides to the stern of the fast-boat, and these
 were dragged broadside first, with little diminished
velocity for some time.   But the fish at length feel-
ing the impediment, suddenly  changed its  course,
 and again  disappointed the people in two of the
 boats which had got extremely  near it.
    Several times the harpooners seized  their wea-
 pons and were on the  point of launching them at 
206
WHALE-FISHERY.
the fish, when in an instant it shot from them with
singular  velocity  and  disappeared.  In this way
the chase was continued for fourteen  hours, when
the fish again turned to leeward.   But the men, ex-
hausted by such continued exertion, together with
the hard  labour to which they had been previously
subjected, at the same  time being without meat or
drink, and sparingly sheltered from the inclemency
of the weather by clothes drenched in  oil, were
incapacitated  from taking advantage of the  only
chance they had ever had of success from the be-
ginning of the chase.
  By this time we had reached the boats with the
ship.   Xne wind  had  increased  to a  gale, and a
considerable sea  had  arisen.  We  had no hope
therefore of success.   As  however we could  not
possibly recover the lines at this time, stormy as the
weather was, we applied a cask as a buoy to sup-
port them, and moored an empty boat having a jack
flying in it, to the cask with the intention of keep-
ing near it during the storm, and with the expecta-
tion of recovering  our lines, and a faint hope like-
wise of gaining the fish after the termination of the
gale.  The boat was then abandoned.   We made
an attempt to keep near the boat with the ship, but
the increasing force of the gale, drove us in spite of
every effort to leeward.  On  the first cessation we
made all sail, and plyed towards the boat; succeed-
ed in  finding it, recovered boat and line, but lost the
whale. 
                WHALE-FISHERY.            207
   On the 28th of May, 1817, the Royal Bounty, of
Leith, Captain Drysdale, fell in with a great num-
ber of whales in the latitude of 77° 25' N., and
longitude 5° or  6° E.  Neither ice nor land was
in sight, nor was  there supposed to be either the
one or the other within 50 or 60 miles.  A brisk
breeze of wind  prevailed, and the weather was
clear.  The boats were therefore manned and sent
in pursuit.   After a chase of about five  hours, the
harpooner commanding a  boat, who, with another
in company, had rowed out of sight of the ship,
struck one of the whales.  This  was about 4 A. M.
of the 29th.   The captain supposing, from the long
absence of the two most distant boats,  that a fish
had been struck, directed the course of the ship to-
wards the place  where he had last seen  them, and
about 8 A. M. he got sight of a boat which displac-
ed the signal for being fast.  Some time afterwards,
he observed the other boat approach the fish, a se-
cond harpoon struck, and the usual signal displayed.
As, however, the fish dragged the two boats away
with considerable speed, it was mid-day before any
assistance could reach them.  Two more harpoons
were  then struck, but such was the vigour of the
whale, that although it constantly dragged through
the water from four to  six boats, together with 1600
fathoms of line, which it had drawn out of the dif-
ferent boats, yet it pursued its flight nearly as fast
as a boat cor Id row; and such was the terror that it
manifested on the  approach of its enemies, that 
208
WHALE-FISHERY.
whenever a boat passed beyond its tail, it invaria-
bly dived.   All their endeavours to lance it, were
therefore in vain.   The crews of the loose boats,
being unable to keep pace with the fish, caught hold
of and moored themselves to the fast-boats, and for
some hours afterwards,  all hands were constrained
to sit in idle impatience, waiting for some relaxation
in the speed of the whale.  Its most general course
had  hitherto been  to windward, but a favourable
change taking place, enabled the ship, which had
previously been at a great distance, to join the boats
at 8  P. M.  They  succeeded in taking one of the
lines to the ship, which was made fast to the ship,
with a view of retarding its flight. They then furl-
ed the  top-gallant-sails, and lowered the top-sails;
but after supporting the  ship a few minutes head to
Wind, the wither of the  harpoon upset, or twisted
aside, and the instrument was disengaged from its
grasp.   The whale immediately set off to wind-
ward, with increased  speed, and it required an in-
terval  of three hours before the ship could  again
approach it. Another line was then "taken on board
which immediately  broke. A fifth harpoon had pre-
viously been struck, to replace  the  one which was
pulled out, but the line attached to it was soon after-
wards cut. They then instituted various schemes for
arresting the speed  of the fish, which occupied their
close attention nearly twelve hours. But its velocity
was yet such, that the master, who had himself pro-
ceeded to the  attack, was unable to approach suffi- 
WHALE-FISHERY.
209
ciently  near to strike a  harpoon.  After a  long
chase, however, he succeeded in getting hold of one
of the lines which the  fish dragged after it, and
of fastening another line to it.   The fish then for-
tunately turned towards the ship, which was  at
a considerable distance to leeward.  At 4 P. M.
of the 30th, 36 hours after the fish was struck, the
ship again joined the boats; when,  by a successful
manoeuvre, they secured  two of the fast-lines on
board.  The  wind  blowing a  moderately  brisk
breeze, the top-gallant sails were taken in,  the
courses hauled up, and the top-sails clewed down;
but notwithstanding the resistance a ship thus situa-
ted must necessarily offer, she was towed by the fish
directly to windward, with the velocity of at least
one and a half to  two knots, during an hour and a
half.   And then, though the whale must have been
greatly exhausted, it beat the water with its fins and
tail in so tremendous a way, that the sea around was
in a continual foam, and the most hardy of the sailors
scarcely dared to approach it.  At  length, about 8
P. M.,  after 40 hours of almost incessant, and for
the most part fruitless exertions, this formidable and
astonishingly  vigorous  animal was killed.   The
capture and the flensing  occupied 48 hours.   The
fish  was  11 feet  bone  (the length of the longest
laminae of whalebone;)  and  its  produce  filled 47
butts, or 23| ton casks with blubber.*
* This interesting occurrence was communicated to me
 Vol. III.---27 
210
WHALE-FISHERY.
  Excepting when it has young under its protection,
the whale generally exhibits remarkable timidity of
character.   A bird perching on its back  alarms it.
The fisher, however, is sometimes liable to danger
from its fury.
  The Aimwell, while cruising in  the Greenland
seas, in the year 1810, had boats in chase of whales.
One of them was harpooned.  But instead of sink-
ing immediately, on receiving the wound, as is the
most usual  manner of  the  whale,  this individual
only dived for  a moment,  and then rose  again be-
neath the boat,  struck it in the most vicious manner
with its fins and tail, stove it, upset it, and then dis-
appeared.   The crew, seven in number, got on the
bottom of the  boat, but tl^e unequal  action of the
line, which for  some time  remained entangled  with
the boat, rolled  it occasionally over, and thus plung-
ed the crew repeatedly into the  water.  Four of
them, after each immersion, recovered themselves,
and clung to the boat; but the other three,  one of
whom was the only person acquainted with the art
of swimming, were drowned before assistance could
arrive.   The four men in the boat  being rescued,
the attack was renewed,  and  two  more harpoons
struck.   But the whale, irritated instead of being
enervated by its wounds, recommenced its  furious
by the late Captain of the Royal Bounty, in a letter contain-
ing the account of the transaction, as inserted in  his log
book. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
211
conduct.  The sea was in a foam.  Its tail and fins
were in awful play; and in a short time, harpoon
after harpoon drew  out; the fish was loosened from
its entanglement, and escaped.
  On the 3rd of June, 1811, a boat from the Reso-
lution, commanded at the time by myself, put off in
pursuit of a whale, aud  was rowed upon its  back.
At the moment that it was harpooned, it struck the
side of  the boat a violent blow with its tail, the
shock of which threw the boat steerer to some dis-
tance into  the water.  A repetition  of the blow,
projected the harpooner and line  manager in a simi-
lar way.  One of the men regained the boat, but  as
the fish immediately sunk, and drew the boat away
from the place, his two companions  in  misfortune
were soon  left far beyond the reach of assistance.
The harpooner,  though a practised swimmer, felt
himself so bruised by a blow he had received on the
chest, that he was totally incapacitated from giving
the least support to  his fellow sufferer.  The ship
being happily near,  a boat arrived to  their succour,
at the moment when the line manager, who was un-
acquainted with  the art  of swimming, was on the
point of sinking to rise  no more.   The  fish,  after
a close pursuit, was subdued.
  A large whale, harpooned from a boat belonging
to the  same  ship,  became  the  subject of a ge-
neral chase.  Being myself in the first  boat which
approached the fish,  I struck  my harpoon at arm's
length,  by which  we fortunately evaded  a blow 
212
WHALE-FISHERY.
which appeared to be aimed at the boat.   Another
boat  then  advanced,  and another  harpoon  was
struck, but not with the same result, for the stroke
was returned by a tremendous blow from the fish's
tail.  The boat was sunk by the shock, and at the
same time whirled round with such velocity, that
the boat steerer was precipitated into the water, on
the side next the fish, and was accidentally carried
down to a considerable depth by its  tail.   After a
minute or two he arose, and was  taken up, along
with his companions, into my boat.  A similar attack
was made on the next boat which came up; but the
harpooner, being warned of the prior conduct of the
fish, used such precaution, that the  blow, though
equal in strength, took effect only in an inferior de-
gree. The activity and skill of the lancers soon over-
came this designing  whale, and added its produce
to the cargo of the ship.  Such intentional mischief
on the part of the whale, it must be observed, is a
somewhat rare occurrence.

       Proceedings after a  Whale is Killed.
   Before a whale can be flensed, as  the  operation
of taking off the fat  and whalebone is called, some
preliminary measures are requisite.   These consist
in securing the fish to a boat, cutting away the at-
tached whale-lines, lashing the fins of the whale to-
gether, and towing it to the ship.
   The first operation performed on a dead whale,
is  to secure it to a boat.  This is easily effected, by 
WHALE-FISHERY.
213
lashing it with a rope, passed several times through
two holes pierced in the tail,  to  the boat's  bow.
The more  difficult operation of freeing the whale
from the entanglement of the lines, is then attempt-
ed.  As the whale, when dead, always lies on its
back, or on its side, the lines and harpoons are ge-
nerally far under water.  When they are seen  pass-
ing obliquely downward, they are hooked with a
grapnel, pulled to the surface and  cut.   But when
they hang perpendicularly, or when they can not
be seen, they are discovered by a process, called
" sweeping a fish."
  While this is in progress, the men of  the  other
boats, having first lashed the tail to a boat, are em-
ployed in lashing the fins together  across the  belly
of the whale. I have observed two or three curious
circumstances connected with these operations, which
I shall venture to mention.
  On one occasion, I was myself engaged in the
capture of a fish, upon which, when to  appearance
dead, I leaped, cut holes in the fins, and was in the
act of  reeving a rope  through them, when the fish
sunk beneath my feet.   As soon as I observed that
the water had  risen  above my knees, I made a
spring towards a boat at the distance of  three or
four yards from me, and caught hold of the gunwale.
Scarcely was I on board before the fish  began to
move forward, turned from its back upon its belly,
reared its tail aloft, and began to shake it with such
prodigious violence, that it resounded through the 
214
WHALE-FISHERY.
 air to the distance of two  or three miles. After two
 or three minutes of this violent exercise, it ceased,
 rolled over upon its side, and died.
   In the  year 1816, a fish was to all appearance
 killed.  The  fins were partly  lashed, and the  tail
 on the point of being secured, and all the lines ex-
 cepting one were cut  away,  the fish  meanwhile
 lying as if dead.  To the astonishment and alarm,
 however,  of the sailors, it revived, began to move,
 and pressed forward in a convulsive agitation; soon
 after, it sunk iu the  water to some depth, and then
 died.  One line  remained attached to it, by which
 it was drawn up and secured.   A fish being proper-
 ly secured, is then "  taken  in tow," that is, all the
 boats join themselves in a line,  by ropes always
 carried for the purpose, and unite their efforts in
 rowing  towards the ship.   The course of the ship,
 in  the mean time, is  directed towards the boats, but
 in calms, or when the ship is moored to the ice, at
 no great distance, or  when the situation of the fish is
 inconvenient or inaccessible, the ship awaits the ap-
 proach of the  fish.
  The fish having reached the ship, is taken to the
 larboard side,  arranged and secured for flensing.
For the performance  of this operation, a variety  of
knifes and other instruments is requisite.
  Towards  the stern of the  ship, the head of the
fish is directed: and the tail, which is first cut off,
sent abreast of the fore chains.  The smallest  or
 posterior  part  of the  whale's body,  where  the 
WHALE-FISHERY.
215
tail is united, is called the rump, and the extremity
or anterior part of the head is drawn in an opposite
direction by means  of the nose  tackles.  Hence,
the  body of  the fish is forcibly extended.   The
right-side fin, being next the ship, is lashed upward
towards  the gunnel.   A band of blubber, two or
three feet in  width, encircling a fish's  body, and
lying between the  fins and the head,  being the
fat of the neck, or what corresponds to the neck in
other animals, is called the kent, because by means
of it the fish is turned over or kented.  In the com-
mencement of this band of fat or kent  is  fixed the
lower extremity of a combination of powerful blocks,
called the kent purchase.   Its upper extremity is
fixed round the  head  of the main mast,  and its fall
or rope, is applied to the windlass, drawn tight, and
the upper surface of the fish rising several inches
above the water.  The enormous weight of a whale
prevents the possibility of raising it more than one
fourth, or one fifth  part out of the water, except,
indeed, when it has been some days dead, in which
case it  swells in consequence of air generated by
putrefaction, until one third of its  bulk, appears
above the surface; the fish then lying belly upwards,
extended and  well secured,  is ready for the opera-
tion of flensing.

              Process of Flensing.
   After the whale is properly secured along side of
the ship, the  harpooners, having their feet armed 
216            WHALE-FISHERY.
with spurs, to prevent them from slipping, descend
upon the fish.   Two boats, each  of which is under
the guidance of one or two boys, attend upon them,
and serve to hold all their knives, and other appa-
ratus.   Thus  provided, the ljarpooners,  directed
by  the specksiouer,* divide the fat into oblong
pieces, or " slips," by meaus of " blubber spades"
and " blubber knives;"  then,  affixing  a " speck-
tackle" to each slip,  flay it progressively off, as it
is drawn upwards.   The speck-tackles, which are
two or three  in number, are rendered effective  by
capstern winches,  or other mechanical  powers.
The flensers commence with the belly and  under
jaw, being the only part then above water.   The
blubber, in pieces of half a ton each, is received on
deck, and divided into portable, cubical, or oblong
pieces, containing near a solid foot of fat, and pass-
ed  down between decks, when it is packed in a re-
ceptacle provided for it in the hold, or other suitable
place, called the flens-gut,  where it remains until
further convenience.
  All the fat being taken away from the belly, and
the right fin removed,  the fish is  then turned round
on  its side by  means of the kent, which, by  the
power of the windlass, readily  performs this office.
  * The name of this officer was introduced by the Dutch,
and is derived from the word speck, which, in their language,
is applied to the fat of the whale, as well as to that of other
animals. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
217
The upper surface of fat is again removed, together
with the left fin, and after a second kenting, one of
the " lips" is taken away, by which the whalebone
of one side of the head, now lying nearly horizon-
tal, is exposed.  The  fish being a little further
turned, the whalebone of the left  side is dislodged
by the use of " bone hand-spikes," " bone knives,"
and " bone spades."  These constitute what are
called " bone geer," and are used, with the assist-
ance of speck tackles, for taking up the whalebone
in one mass.  On its arrival on deck, it is split with
bone wedges into " junks," containing  five to ten
blades each, and  stowed away.   A further kenting
brings the fish's back upward, and the next exposes
the second side of bone.  As the fish is turned round,
every part of the  blubber becomes successively up-
permost and is removed.   At length,  when the
whole of the blubber, whalebone,  and jaw bones
have been taken on board, the kent, which now ap-
pears a slip of perhaps 30 feet in length, is also
separated,  together with the rump rope,  and nose
tackle, on which,  the carcass being at liberty, gene-
rally sinks in the water and disappears.
   When  sharks  are present, they generally help
themselves very plentifully, during the progress of
the flensing; but  they  often pay  for their temeri-
ty with their lives.   Fulmars pay close attendance
in  immense numbers.   They seize the fragments
occasionally  disengaged by the knife,  while they
are swimming in the water; but most of the othsr
   Vol. 111.---28 
818             WHALE-FISHERY.
gulls, who attend on the occasion, take their share
on the wing.  The burgomaster is decidedly mas-
ter of the feast.  Hence every bird is obliged to re-
linquish the most delicious morsel, when the burgo-
master descends to claim it.
   When despatch is seconded by ability, the ope-
ration of flensing can be performed on a whale, af-
fording 20 or 30  tons of blubber, in the space of
three or four hours.  Flensing in a swell is a most
difficult and dangerous undertaking, and when the
swell is considerable, it is commonly impracticable.
No ropes or blocks are capable of bearing the jerk
of the sea.  The  harpooners  are annoyed  by the
surge, and repeatedly drenched in  water, and are
likewise subject to be  wounded by the breaking of
ropes, or  hooks, or tackles, and even  by  strokes
from each other's knives.  Hence, accidents in this
kind of flensing are not uncommon.  The harpoon-
 ers not unfrequently fall into the fish's mouth, when
 it is exposed by the removal of a surface of blubber;
 where they might easily  be drowned, but for prompt
 assistance.
   Some years ago, 1 was witness of a circumstance
 in which a harpooner  was exposed to the most im-
 minent risk of his life  at the conclusion of a flensing
 process, by a very curious accident. The harpooner
 stood on one of the jaw bones of the fish,  with a boat
 by his side.  In this  situation, while he was in the
 act of cutting the kreng* adrift, a boy inadvertently
• The carcass, after being flensed, is so called. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
219
 stuck the point of the boat-hook, by which he usu-
 ally held the boat, through the ring of the harpoon-
 er's spur, and in the same act, seized the jaw bone
 of  the fish  with the hook of the same instrument.
 Before this was discovered, the kreng was set at
 liberty,  and began_instantly  to  sink.  The har-
 pooner then threwWimself towards the boat, but
 being firmly entangled by the  foot, he fell into
 the water.  Providentially he caught the gunwale
 of the boat with both hands; but overpowered by the
 force of  the sinking kreng, he was on the point of
 relinquishing his grasp, when  some of his compan-
 ions got hold of his hands while others threw a rope
 round his body.   The carcass of the fish was now
 suspended entirely  by his body, which was conse-
 quently  so  dreadfully  extended,  that  there was
 some danger of his being drawn asunder. But such
 was his  terror of being taken under water, that
 notwithstanding the excruciating pain he suffered,
 he  constantly cried to his  companions, to  " haul
 away the rope."  He remained  in this dreadful state
 until means were adopted  for hooking  the kreng
 with a grapnel, and  drawing it back to the surface
 of the water.

             Process oj Making Off.
  When a fish is caught, or sometimes when there
 is a good prospect of success  in the fishery, even
before a fish is caught, the centre of the ship's hold
is  disencumbered of a few of its  casks, to  be  in 
2^0             WHALE-FISHEUY.
readiness  for the  reception of the blubber.  The
cavity thus made, together with all the space be-
tween  decks which  can conveniently be  appro-
priated  to the same purpose, receives the name of
the fiens-gut.  Now, when the flens-gut is filled
with blubber, or when, no fisjyiaving been  seen, a
favourable opportunity of leis«R is presented, the
operation of making off* is generally commenced.
This consists of freeing the  fat from all extraneous
substances, especially the muscular parts, and the
skin; then cutting it into small pieces, and  putting
it  into  casks  through the  bunghole.  Before the
process of making off can, however, be commenced,
several  preparatory measures are necessary.  The
ship must be moored to a convenient piece of ice,
or placed in an open  situation, and the sails so re-
duced as to require no further attention in the event
of bad weather occurring.   The  hold of the ship
must be cleared of its superstructure of casks, until
the " ground tier," or lowest stratum of casks, is
exposed; and the ballast water must  be " started,"
or pumped out of all the casks that are removed
upon deck, as well as out  of those in the  ground
tier, which are first prepared for the reception  of
the blubber.   In  " breaking out  the hold," it  is
  * The expression " making off," seems to be derived from
the word afmaaken of the Dutch, signifying to finish, ad-
just, or complete, referring to the nature  of the operation,
as a concluding, finishing, or adjusting process. 
WHALE
-FISHERY.
221
not necessary to lay open more of the ground tier at
a time, than three or four casks extended in length.
  The water which  is discharged from the casks
in the hold, provided they have been before in use,
gives out a great quantity of a strong  disagreeable
vapour, consisting  probably of sulphuretted  and
phosphuretted hydrogen, with a mixture  of other
gaseous fluids, produced by the decomposition of
the  oleaginous, and other animal substances, left in
the casks after former voyages.  This decomposi-
tion seems to be encouraged, if not wholly produced,
by the action  of the water on the animal matter;
because the same casks, if  bunged  close, when
empty, give out but a small quantity of  gas  and
that of inferior pungency.  The  gas proceeding
from oily casks, having contained water, resembles,
in some degree, though vastly more pungent, the gas
evolved by il bilge water," or the stagnant water
which rests among the timbers of a very tight ship.
The gas discharged from  oily  casks, is  usually
stronger and more  abundant, in proportion as the
water from which it is disengaged, has been a longer
time in the  casks.  A considerable quantity of it is
generated  in the space of three or four  months.
This gas blackens metals, even gold, restores some
metallic oxides, is disagreeable in respiration,  and
affects  the eyes of the persons employed in the hold,
where it is most abundant, so as to occasion ophthal-
mic inflammation, and frequently temporary blind-
ness. 
S)<9 9
WHALE-FISHERY.
   While  the  line-managers,  together with  the
 " skeeman,"* the cooper, and perhaps a few others,
 are employed in breaking out the hold, the rest of
 the crew on the deck arrange all the variety of ap-
 paratus used for the preparation of the blubber, be-
 fore it is put into the casks.   Of this apparatus, the
 most considerable part is the " speck-trough," with
 its appendages.  It consists  of a kind of  oblong
 box or chest, about twelve feet in length, 1| feet
 in breadth, and 1| feet in depth.  The speck-trough
 is fixed upon  the deck,  as nearly as possible  over
 the  place where the casks  are to be filled in the
 hold.  A square hole, made in its bottom, is  placed
 either over the nearest  hatch-way to the  scene of
 operation, or upon a corresponding hole cut  in the
 deck.
   The speck-trough  is  then  secured,  and  its lid
 turned backward into  a horizontal  position; in
 which position  it is  supported  on one  side  by its
 hinges, and on the other by screw props or pillars;
 or it is altogether rested   upon several little  stools.
 The surface of the lid, which thus placed, forms a
 level table, is  then covered with blocks of whales'
tail,  from end  to end.   This substance, from its
sinewy and elastic nature, makes excellent " chop-
ping blocks," and preserves the " chopping knives"
from injury,  when  used   for  dividing  the  blubber
  * The officer who has the direction of operations  con-
ducting in the hold. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
223
upon it.  Into the square hole in the bottom of the
speck-trough is fitted  an iron-frame, to which  is
suspended  a canvass tube or " hose," denominated
a lull.  The lull is open at both ends.  Its diame-
ter is about a foot, and its length sufficient to reach
from the deck to the bottom of the hold.   To the
middle, or towards  the upper part of the lull, is at-
tached a " pair of nippers," consisting of two sticks
fastened together by a kind of hinge at one end, and
capable of being pressed together at the other.  The
nippers being  passed  across the body of the lull,
and  their detached  extremities brought together,
they embrace it so closely, that nothing  can   pass
downward  while they remain in  this position;  but
when, on the other hand, the nippers are extended,
the lull forms a free channel of communication  be-
tween the speck-trough and the hold.
  Every thing being now in readiness, the  blub-
ber,  as it is thrown out of the flens-gut, undergoes
the following several  operations.  It is received
upon deck by  the  " krengers," whose  office  is to
remove all the muscular parts, together with such
spongy or  fibrous  fat, as is known by  experi-
ence to produce very little oil.   When these sub-
stances, which  go under the general denomination
of kreng,  are included among the blubber in the
casks, they undergo  a kind of fermentation, and
generates  such a quantity of gas,  as  sometimes to
burst the containing vessels, and  occasion the loss
of their contents.  From the krengers, the blubber 
224
WHALE-FISHERY.
passes to the harpooners.  Each of these officers,
provided  with a blubber-knife,  or a strand knife,
places himself by  the  side of a  " closh," which
is an  upright fixed  in the  deck,  from  the  top
whereof, project several sharp spikes.   An attend-
ant,  by means of a  pair of " hand hooks," or a
" pick haak," then mounts a piece of blubber upon
the spikes of the closh,  and the harpooner slices off
the skin.  From the skinners, the blubber is passed
into an open space called the bank, prepared as a de-
positary, in  front of the speck-trough and it is then
laid upon the " chopping blocks," as wanted.   It
now falls under the hands of the boat steerers, who
armed with •• chopping  knives," are arranged in a
line by the side of the  chopping-blocks, with  the
speck-trough before them.  Thus prepared, they
divide the blubber, as it is placed on their blocks,
into oblong pieces, not exceeding four inches in
diameter, and push it into the speck-trough intend-
ed for its reception,  And, finally, the blubber falls
under  the direction of the line managers stationed
in the hold,  who  receive it into tubs, through the
medium of the lull; and  pass it, without  any instru-
ment but their hands, into the casks through their
bung-holes. The casks being closely filled, are then
securely bunged up.
  When the ground tier casks, as far as they have
been exposed, are filled, the second tier  of casks is
" stowed" upon it, and likewise filled with blubber,
together with the third  tier casks  when necessary.
As in this progressive  manner,  when fish  can  be 
- WHALE-FISHERY.
225
 had in sufficiency, all  the  hold is filled, and  like-
 wise the space between decks,—it is evident, that
 the process of making-off must be tedious, disagreea-
 ble and  laborious.  Fifty men, actively employed,
 can prepare  and pack  about three tons of blubber
 in an hour; though, more frequently, they are con-
 tented with  making-off little more  than half  that
 quantity.*
   When a ship,  which makes a successful fishing,
 is deficient in casks, the remaining vacancies adapt-
 ed for the reception of the cargo, are filled with
 " blubber in bulk,?'  that is, the  blubber, in large
 pieces as it is taken off the whales, is laid  skin
 downward, upon the highest tier of casks, and over
this, stratum after  stratum, until  the vacancies are
filled.   A little  salt  is  usually scattered over the
surface of each stratum of blubber, which assists in
preserving the animal fibre, and in preventing the
discharge of the oil. Blubber in bulk, notwithstand-
ing every precaution, however, generally loses much
of its oil.
   A quick passage homeward, with cool weather
and smooth sea, are favourable for its preservation,
  * The operation of making-off was always, in the earlier
ages of the fishery, performed on shore; and even so recently
as the middle of last century, it was  customary for ships to
proceed into  a harbour, and  there remain so  long  as this
process was going on.
   Vol. III.---29 
226
WHALE-FISHERY.
but under the influence of opposite  circumstances,
it becomes greatly reduced.

    Process of boiling Blubber, or extracting Oil.

  The blubber, which is originally in the  state of
firm fat, is found, on arrival in a warm climate, to
be in a great measure resolved into oil.  The casks
containing the blubber are conveyed by a mechani-
cal apparatus to the top of a wooden cistern, called
the starting-back, capable of containing from  3 to
6 or 10 tons, into which their  contents are started
through the bung-holes.   When the copper or boil-
er,  which is a vessel of about the same capacity as
the starting-back, is properly cleansed, the contents
of the starting-back, on  lifting a clough at the ex-
tremity, or turning a  stopcock, fall directly into
the copper, one  edge of which is  usually placed
beneath.   The copper is filled within two or  three
inches of  the top, a little space being  requisite to
admit of the expansion of the oil when heated; and
then a brisk fire is  applied in the furnace, and con-
tinues  until the oil begins to boil.   This  usually
takes place in less than  two hours.   Many of  the
fritters or fenks (the refuse) float on the surface of
the oil before it is heated, but after it is boiled off,
the whole, or nearly so, subside to the bottom. From
the time the copper begins to warm, until it is boil-
ed  off, or ceases to boil, its contents must be in-
cessantly  stirred by means of a pole armed with a 
                WHALE-FISHERY.             227
kind of broad blunt chisel, to prevent the fenks from
adhering to the bottom or sides of the vessel. When
once the contents of the copper boil, the fire in the
furnace is immediately reduced, and shortly after-
wards altogether withdrawn.   Some persons allow
the  copper to boil  an hour, others  during two or
three hours.   The  former practice  is supposed to
produce finer or paler oil, the latter a greater quan-
tity.  Supposing the copper to be filled at four in
the morning, it is generally brought  to boil by  half
past five, and boiled off at  half past six or seven.
It then stands to cool or subside, until  about  two
in the afternoon, when the bailing process com-
mences.   A back or  cooler having  been prepared
for the reception of the oil, by putting into it a quan-
tity of water,* for the double purpose of preventing
the heat of the  oil from warping or  rending the
back, and for receiving any impurities which it may
happen to hold in suspension; a wooden spout, with
a large square  box-like head, which head is filled
with brush-wood or broom,  that it may act as a fil-
ter, is then placed along, from the "  copper-head"f
to the cooler, so as to form  a communication  be-
tween  the two.  The oil in the copper being now
separated from the fenks, water, and other impuri-
  * Some persons dispense with the water, believing that it
promotes rancidity in the oil.
  t The platform built around the edge of the copper, is
called the copper-head. 
228
WHALE-FISHERY'.
tics, all of which have  subsided to the  bottom, is,
in a great measure, run off through the pipe com-
municating with the cooler, and the remainder is
carefully lifted in copper or tin ladles, and poured
upon the broom in the  spout, from whence it runs
into the  same  cooler, or  any other cooler, at  the
pleasure of the " boilers."*   Besides oil and fenks,
the blubber of the whale likewise affords a con-
siderable  quantity of  watery liquor, produced pro-
bably from the putrescence of the blood,  ou the sur-
face of which, some of the fenks, and all the greasy
animal matter  called footje  or  footing, float, and
upon the  top of these the oil.  Great care, there-
fore, is requisite, on approaching these impure sub-
stances, to take the oil off  by  means  of shallow
tinned iron or copper ladles, called skimmers, with-
out disturbing  the refuse, and mixing  it with  the
oil.  There must always,  however, be a small
quantity towards the conclusion,  which is a mixture
of oil and footing; such is put into a cask or other
suitable vessels by itself, and when the  grossy part
has  thoroughly subsided,  the most pure  part is
skimmed off, and becomes fine oil, and  the impure
is allowed to accumulate by itself in another vessel,
where, in the end, it affords " brown oil."
   The refuse now left in the copper, is bailed into
  * The men employed in extracting oil are thus denomi-
nated. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
229
 a tunnel or spout, which conveys it into the fenk-
 back, where it remains as long as the capacity of
 the vessel will admit; a portion of brown oil, which
 is constantly found rising to the surface, being, in
 the meantime, occasionally skimmed off.
   A few years ago, my father instituted a process
 for reducing blubber into oil, by the use of steam;
 and a similar process has been adopted in Hull, and
 other ports, and  applied  to  the extraction  of oil,
 with considerable advantage.
   From a ton, or 252 gallons by measure, of blub-
 ber, there generally arises  from 50 to 65 gallons
 of  refuse, whereof the greater part is  a  watery
 fluid.  The constant presence of this fluid, which
 boils at a  much lower temperature than  the oil,
 prevents  the  oil itself from  boiling,  which  is,
 probably  an advantage, since, in  the  event of the
 oil  being boiled, some of the finest and most in-
 flammable part, would fly off in the form of vapour;
 whereas,  the  principal part of the steam, which
 now escapes, is produced from the water.
   Some persons make a practice of adding a quan-
 tity of water,  amounting, perhaps, to half a ton, to
 the contents of each copper, with the view of weak-
 ening or attenuating the viscid impurities contained
 in the blubber, and thus obtaining a finer oil; others
 consider the quantity of watery fluid, already in the
blubber, as sufficient for  producing  every needful
 effect.
  Each day, immediately after the copper is emp-
 tied, and while it is yet hot, the men employed in 
230          WHALE-FISHERY.
the manufacture of the oil, having their feet defend-
ed by strong leathern or wooden shoes, descend in-
to it, and scour it out with sand and water, until
they restore the natural surface of the copper, wher-
ever it is discoloured.   This  serves to preserve the
oil  from becoming high  coloured,* which will al-
ways be the case, when  proper cleanliness is not
observed.
  The  starting-back being previously  filled with
blubber, its contents are again  transferred into the
copper, and the fire is applied  as before.   This is
generally accomplished by four, or half  past four
o'clock in  the afternoon.  The  copper again boils
by  half an hour after five or six, and  is boiled off
by seven or eight in the evening.  The  men em-
ployed in this service, consisting of about six per-
sons, alternately watch in the night by  couples.
Those on watch, commence about two in the morn-
ing to empty the copper, which  done, they again fill it
from the starting-back, which  is always made ready
the  night before.  Thus the  process goes on, until
the whole cargo is finished.
  By means of three  coolers, severally capable of
containing at least twice the quantity of oil produc-
  * The palest coloured oil is most esteemed by buyers, and
is supposed to be the best; simply, perhaps, because it seems
to have been manufactured with care, and appears to be free
from any admixture of brown or black oil,  produced from
the fenk-back, or found in the hold of the ship. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
231
ed from one boiling of blubber in the copper, each
can be  allowed, in turn,  to stand undisturbed  up-
wards of twenty-four hours.  Thus, while one is in
the act of being filled, the other stands to cool  and
settle, and the third is drawn off.   If the backs be
twice this  size, or four times  the capacity of the
copper, every one will require two days to be filled
by one copper,  and after being  filled, may subside
during two or three days undisturbed.   Even  two
backs in number, of this capacity, would admit of
an interval of twenty four hours each, after being
filled, before it would be necessary to begin to emp-
ty it.   Thus prepared and cooled, the oil is  in a
marketable state, and requires only to be transferred
from the coolers into casks for convenience of con-
veyance to any part of the country.  Each of the
coolers, it has  been observed, is furnished with a
stop-cock, beneath which there is a platform adapt-
ed for receiving the casks, when they are filled, with
great ease,  by the introduction of a leathern tube,
extending from the orifice of the stop-cock into the
bung-hole.
  At  the conclusion of the process of boiling, each
vessel's  cargo  manufactured on the premises, the
backs are completely emptied of their contents. To
effect this, water is poured in, until the lower part
of the stratum of oil rises to within a few lines of the
level  of the stop-cock,  and permits the greater part
of the oil to escape.  The quantity left,  amounts,
perhaps, to half an inch,  or an inch in depth.  To 
232
WHALE-FISHERY.
 recover this oil without waste requires a little ad-
 dress.   A deal-board, in  length a little exceeding
 the breadth of the cooler, is introduced at one end,
 a little diagonally, and placed edgewise in its  con-
 tents.   The ends of the board being covered with
 flannel, when pressed forcibly against the two op-
 posite sides of the cooler, prevent  the oil from cir-
 culating past.  The board is  then advanced slowly
 forward, towards the part of the back, where the
 stop-cock is placed; and in its progress, (the  ends
 being kept close to the side of the cooler, and the
 upper edge a little above the surface  of the oil,) all
 the oil is now collected by the board, while the wa-
 ter has a free circulation beneath it.  When the oil
 accumulates  to the depth of the  board, its further
 motion  is suspended,  until the oil, thus  collected,
 is drawn off.  Another similar board is afterwards
 introduced at the farthest extremity of the cooler,
 and passed forward in the same  manner, whereby
 the little oil which escapes the  first is  collected.
 Now the remnant, which still refuses to run off by
 the orifice of the stop-cock, being  collected in a cor-
 ner, is taken  up by skimmers; and the footing or
 sediment which  appears at the last, is disposed of
 in the same way as the footing from the copper, un-
til the oil it contains rises to the surface and can be
removed.
   In most of the out-ports, the oil is  generally de-
posited  in casks, in which it remains until it is  dis-
posed of by the importers.   In London,  however, 
WHALE-FISHERY,
233
 and in some concerns in Hull and other ports, the
 speculators in the whale fishery are provided with
 cisterns or tanks, wherein they can deposit their
 oil, and preserve it until a convenient time for sell-
 ing, without being subject to  the waste which usu-
 ally takes place when it is put into casks.   From
 these  cisterns, any quantity  can  be  drawn off at
 pleasure.
   The smell of  oil,  during its extraction,  is un-
 doubtedly disagreeable; but,  perhaps, not more so
 than  the vapour arising from any other substance
 submitted to the action of heat when in a putrid
 state.   The prevailing opinion,  however,  that  a
 whale ship must  always give out  the same unplea-
 sant smell, is quite erroneous.  The fact is, that
 the fat of the whale, in its fresh state, has no offen-
 sive flavour whatever, and never becomes disagree-
 able until  it is brought into  a warm climate and
 becomes putrid; neither is a whale ship  more un-
 pleasant than any other trader, until after her cargo
 is opened on her  arrival in port.

 Description of Whalebone,  and the Method of Pre-
                   paring it.

   Whalebone, or whale fins,  as  the substance is
 sometimes,  though  incorrectly named, is found in
the mouth of the common Greenland whale, to which
it serves as a substitute  for teeth.  It forms  an ap-
 paratus most admirably adapted, as a filter,  for se-
  Vol. III.----30 
234
WHALE-FISHERY.
parating the  minute animals, on which the whale
feeds, from the sea water in which they exist.
  It is a substance of a horny appearance and con-
sistence, extremely flexible and elastic, generally
of a bluish black colour, but not unfrequently strip-
ed  longitudinally   with  white,  and  exhibiting  a
beautiful play of colour on  the surface.  Internally
it is of a fibrous texture, resembling hair; and the
external surface consists of a smooth enamel, capa-
ble of receiving a good polish.
  This substance,  when taken from the whale, con-
sists of laminse, connected by what is called the gum,
in a parallel  series, and ranged along each side of
the mouth of the  animal.  The laminae are about
300 in number, in each side of  the  head.  The
length of the longest blade, which occurs near the
middle  of the series, is the  criterion fixed on by the
fishers, for  designating the  size of the fish.  Its
greatest length is about 15 feet; but an instance very
rarely occurs of any being met witl^above 12| or
13  feet.  Its greatest breadth, which is at the root
end, is  10 or 12 inches, and its greatest thickness
four-tenths or five-tenths of an inch.
   The two  sides  or  series of the whalebone, are
connected at the upper part of the head, or crown
bone of the fish, within a few inches of each other,
from whence they  hang downward, diverging so far
as  to enclose the tongue between  their extremities;
the position of the blades, with regard to each other,
resembles a  frame of saws  in a saw mill; and taken 
WHALE-FISHERY.
235
 altogether, they exhibit, in some measure, the form
 and position of the roof of a house.   The smaller
 extremity and interior edge of each blade of bone,
 or the edge annexed to the tongue, are covered with
 a long fringe of hair, consisting of a similar kind
 of substance as that constituting the exterior of the
 bone. Whalebone is generally brought from Green-
 land in the same state as when taken from the fish,
 after being divided into portable junks, or pieces,
 comprising ten or twelve laminae in each; but occa-
 sionally it is subdivided into separate blades,  and
 the gum and hair removed when at sea.
   One of the first  importations of whalebone  into
 England, was probably in  the  year  1594, when
 a quantity of this  substance, being  part of the
 cargo of a wrecked Biscayan ship, was picked up
 at Cape Breton, by some English ships, fitted out
 for the whale and morse fisheries, after the example
 of the Icelanders and Biscayans.*
   This substance has been held in such high esti-
 mation, that, since  the establishment of the Spitz-
 bergen whale fishery, the British have occasionally
 purchased it of the Dutch, at the rate of 7001. per
 ton.f  It is calculated, that at least 100,000Z. per
 annum were paid to the Dutch for this article, about
the years 1715 to 1721, when the price was 400Z.J
* Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. iii. p. 194.
t Macpherson's Annals of Commerce, vol. iii. p. 512.
\ Elking's View of the Greenland Trade, 8cc. p. 65. 
236
WHALE-FISHERY.
About the year 1763, the  price in Euglaud  was
500/. per ton; but after an  extensive importation of
this article from New England, the price delined to
350/.* aud subsequently as low as  50/. per ton. Of
late years the price has usually been fluctuating be-
tween 50/. aud 150/. per ton.  Whalebone becomes
more valuable as it increases in length and thick-
ness.
  On or near the premises  where the oil is extract-
ed,  the  whalebone is commonly cleaned and pre-
pared.
  The first operation,  if not already doue, consists
in depriving it of the gum.  It is then put into a
cistern containing water, until the dirt upon its sur-
face becomes soft.  When this effect  is sufficiently
produced, it is taken out, piece by piece,  laid on a
plank  placed on the ground, where  the operator
stands, and scrubbed or scoured with sand and wa-
ter, by  means of a  broom or a piece of cloth.  It
is then passed to another  person,  who, on a plank
or bench, elevated to a convenient height, scrapes
the root-end  where the gum was attached, until he
produces a smooth surface; he or another workman,
then applies a knife or a p'air of shears  to the edge,
and completely detaches all the fringe of hair con-
nected  with it.   Another person,  who is generally
the  superintendent  of the concern, afterwards re-
* Macpherson's Annals, vol. iii. p. 371. 
WHALE-FISHERY.
237
ceives it, washes it in a vessel of clean  water, and
removes, with a bit of wood, the impurities out of
the cavity of the root.  Thus cleansed, it is exposed
to the air and sun  until thoroughly dry, when it is
removed into a warehouse, or other place of safety
and shelter.
   Before it is offered for sale, it it usually scrubbed
with brushes and hair-cloth, by which the surface
receives a polish,  and all dirt or dust adhering to it
is removed; and finally, it is packed  in  portable
bundles, consisting of about a hundred weight each.
The size-bone, or such  pieces as measure six feet
or upward in length, is kept separate from the un-
der-size; the latter being usually sold  at half  the
price of the former.   Each blade being terminated
with a quantity of hair, there is sometimes a diffi-
culty in deciding,  whether some blades of whale-
bone are size or not. Owing to the diminished value
of under-size bone, and more particularly, in conse-
quence  of the captain and some of the officers engag-
ed in a fishing ship, having a premium on every
size fish, it becomes a matter of some importance in
a doubtful case, to decide this point.  From a  de-
cision, which I understand has been made in a court
of law,  it is  now  a generally received rule, that so
much of the  substance terminating each  blade, as
gives rise to two or more hairs, is whalebone:
though, in fact, the hair  itself is  actually the same
substance as that  of which the whalebone  is com-
posed. 
 
APPENDIX.
                       A.

      The Common  Wild Cat; or Bay Lynx.

            Felis Rufa, Guld. Penn. &c.

         (See vol. I. plate opposite page 203, fig. 2.)

   It is highly probable that  all the species of wild
cat described under  the names of Fasciata, aurea,
Montana, &c, may be correctly referred to the pre-
sent, which is the only species, (in addition to the
Felis canadensis Geoff.  Borealis; Temm.) of whose
existence in this country, sufficiently satisfactory
evidence is to be obtained.   At least we have not
been able to find any other in the cabinets of natural
history  to which we have had access, nor in  the
caravans of living American  animals, frequently
exhibited within our vicinity.  The naturalists at-
tached to the different exploring parties which have
traversed vast extents of the American territory,
have not been able, by their own efforts, nor through
the aid of the Indians,  to procure any species  but
the common wild-cat: we  therefore  deem it most 
240
APPENDIX.
correct to wait for  additional observations, before
we admit the existence of so many species as have
been proposed.
   The common wild-cat stands very high upon its
legs, and has a short tail, which is curved upwards
at its extremity; which circumstances tend to give
the animal an appearance of being somewhat dis-
proportioned.  In other respects, its physiognomy
reminds one strongly of the domestic cat, to which
its general aspect and movements are very similar.
The residence of the wild-cat, is usually in wooded
districts, where it preys  upon birds,  squirrels, and
other  small animals, which are taken by surprise,
according to the manner of all the animals belong-
ing to the genus Felis.
   The common wild-cat  is about two feet long, and
twelve or thirteen inches in circumference.  The
tail but little surpasses three inches in length.
   The general colour of  the pelage,  is a deep red-
dish, mingled with small spots of blackish brown;
the inferior parts of the body and throat, as well as
the inferior surface of the tail are white, or whitish.
Numerous  small, nearly  vertical  streaks of black,
are to be observed  on  the front  between the ears,
and down to the space surrounding the orbits, which
are encircled by a clear pale, red, or whitish fur.
There are small pencils of hairs to the tips of the
ears. 
APPENDIX.
241
                       B.

   We believe the observation was first  made by
Mitchill, that the opossum, Didelphis Virginiana,
is never  found to inhabit the country north of the
Hudson, and we have been informed by a scientific
friend, who has devoted an especial degree of at-
tention to the subject, that from repeated researches
and inquiries, he is satisfied that the observation of
our distinguished countryman above named, is cor-
rect.  This fact appears the more singular, when
it is  remembered, that numbers of the species are
found along the southern banks of the river, and it
is well known, that in  other parts of the country,
rivers of nearly equal  size offer  no barrier to  the
diffusion of this species.   It is a curious and inter-
esting inquiry to determine the causes of this limi-
tation;  in the present state of our knowledge, we
have no satisfactory explanation to offer.
   In relation to the generation  of the  opossum,
considering that this work is destined  for general
readers, we have  deemed it  advisable to omit what
we have prepared on this  subject, and to make the
facts we have been enabled  to collect and observe,
the subject of  a paper  to be published in a work
exclusively devoted to students of natural  science.
Vol. III.-----31 
242
APPENDIX
                       D.
              Wistar9 st Fossil Elk.

       (Vol. 2. fig. * and f in plate opposite page 197.)
  The late distinguished  professor Wist a r pub
lished  an account of some  fossil skulls, (exhumed
at Big-Bone  Lick, Kentucky, by Gen. Clark, one
of the enterprising explorers of the western regions.)
which were presented to the American Philosophi-
cal  Society, by Jefferson.   Among other descrip-
tions, is the  following of  the head of  one of the
largest species of the genus Cervus.
  The breadth of the skull, at its narrowest part, is
4.75 inches.   The depth, from  the margin of the
occipital surface to  the most distant  part of the
great foramen of the occipital bone, is 5.25 inches.
From the superior surface, immediately posterior to
the  base of the horns, to the  body of the  sphenoid
bone, immediately under it, 4.7 inches.   The length
of the cranium, from the centre of the space between
the  horns, to  the projection of the occipital bone, i^
6.37 inches.
  Dr. Wistar  compared  this  skull with that of
the   American  Elk, Cervus Caradensis,  and the
Rein-Deer C Tarandus,  and  concluded,  that it
more nearly  resembled  the  Elk,  at  the  occiput,
though differing from it greatly in  the  position and
projection of  the horns.   According to the  measure
menfs  and comparisons of  Or Wistar,  this  Ell- 
 
t'Lta i „   ■/<>/,)// /</ 
 
///J fat J ^tcl.ut  (/.r 
Common  Ox.
Blsrt,
ile Del 
 
APPENDIX.
243
must have been much larger than either the Ameri-
can Elk, or the Rein-Deer.   The species is doubt-
less entirely extinct.*
  The name of " Jlmericanus"  has been given ip
this species.
                        F.
               Wistarfs Fossil Ox.

   In the paper above referred to, Dr. Wistar de-
scribed the fossil skull of an ox, obtained from the
same locality, which he considered as nearly allied
to the Bison, Bos Americanus.  The most remarka-
ble peculiarity of this skull, is the projection or con-
vexity of that portion of the facial or frontal surface
between the horns.   The accompanying plate gives
a front and  back view of this skull.   The species
has been named " Bombifrons."
                Great Fossil Ox.

  The portion of the skull, and nucleus of the horn,
belonging to the valuable cabinet of the American
  * See American Philosophical Trans, vol. 1. new series,
p. 377.   In the figures we have  transferred from Wistar's
plate, the posterior and superior view of the skull is marked
with a *; the profile view with a t- 
244
APPENDIX.
Philosophical Society, from which specimen, the an-
nexed accurate drawing was made by M. Le Sueur,
was first described and figured in the annals of the
museum, by Cuvier, and subsequently in his  great
work on Fossil Bones.   The drawing renders any
detailed description unnecessary.   The nucleus of
the horn, measures twenty-eight inches in circum-
ference.  Though nothing but the fragment  here
represented is  preserved,  there can  be  no doubt
but that the animal was of great size  and belonged
to a species which is utterly  extinct.   The species
has been named " Catifrons."
              Dekay9 s Fossil Ox.

  We must refer  the  reader to the 2d vol. of the
Annals of the Lyceum of New York, for the full
description of the fragments of  this skull, and  the
comparisons instituted by Dr. Dekay to determine
the species.
  Dr. Dekay  considers  that none of the Genus
Bos, now to be found in  this country, have crania
in the slightest degree resembling this specimen.
It was thrown out at the eruption caused by an earth-
quake in 1812, which  entirely destroyed the town
of New Madrid, on the Mississippi.
  Dr. Dekay proposes to designate the  species of
Fossil crania to which he refers those of Pallas and
Ozeretskovsky, by the name of Bos Pallasii, and the 
 
—^'■^'**  5%m-. Nr*^ MW-... /
N

^ 
                   APPENDIX.               245

New Madrid fragment he refers provisionally to the
same.
            MitchiWs Fossil Walrus.

  Dr. Mitchill has received from the shores of Long
Island, a very interesting skull belonging to a spe-
cies of the genus Trichecus.  This skull is agatised
and in a fine state of preservation.   It has been re-
ferred to the examination of a committee of the Ly-
ceum, and their report will be found in the 2d vol-
ume of the annals of that excellent Institution. 
CONCLUSION.
  This work has been delayed  by uncontrollable
circumstances, for a much longer period  than was
anticipated.   It  is not now the time to offer any
apology for the manner in which  the undertakiug
has  been accomplished.   In reviewing what we
have done, it is easy to perceive that much may be
hereafter improved.  These, and all other deficien-
cies will no doubt be indicated by those who inter-
est themselves iu the execution of such performances.
We shall certainly profit by their suggestions, whe-
ther  made iu a spirit of candour or malevolence.
  We  have been as original as it was possible to
be, in such a work, unless the whole business of the
author's  life, had been the collection of materials.
The observations we  have had an  opportunity  of
making from living nature, we fear not  to  have
compared with those made by any other individual.
Wherever we have been  obliged  to compile, we
have anxiously  endeavoured to approximate the
truth, aud have faithfully acknowledged the aid ob-
tained from different sources. 
CONCLUSION.               247
  It has  been our intention to render this  study
pleasing and intelligible, more  than to discuss mi
nutia of classification; to give the Natural History,
instead  of the nomenclature of American animals;
to impart information to those seeking for knowledge,
rather than to  prepare a book for such as consider
themselves the founders of  systems and settlers of
moot points in philosophy.  If we  have accom-
plished  nothing more, we  have rendered it much
easier for our  successors to attempt the composition
of a better work, having  saved them the toil of
examining a vast  number  of books, to glean the
detached observations worthy  of being  brought
together.

   " Reader, I have given  thee an Account of my
" intendments and endeavours in this Performance;
u and if it hath, (as 1 am too conscious to myself, it
" often hath,) happened, that I have any where fail-
16 ed of my design; if in a long  and  tedious Work,
" I have, thro' inadvertency, streights of time, and
" hurry sometimes of other business, made any balk,
" and committed mistakes, let thy humanity excuse
"the humane infirmities of Thine, and his Coun
" try's Faithful Servant,"
                       JOHN D. GODMAN 
 
 GENERAL  SYNOPSIS OF MAMMALIA

        INHABITING NORTH AMERICA.

            BY CHARLES L. BONAPARTE.


  Mammalia are vertebrated,  warm blooded,  viviparous
animals; suckling their young; breathing by lungs which
float freely in the chest, imperforated; the heart is bilocular
and biauricular.
  In the present state of science, they form the first class
of the first type of the animal kingdom.

             GENERAL DIVISIONS,

  Or,  view of the natural families of the system, adopted
in classifying the North American Mammalia.
            Sub-class 1.  Quadrupeda.
  Limbs four, obvious: head separated from the body by
the intervention of a neck.

                     Section I.
  Unguiculata; nails covering only the tips of the digits.
                § Three kinds of teeth.

               ORDER I. Primates.

  Mammae 2, pectoral: penis free: anterior  limbs termi
nated  by hands.
                Tribe I. Bimana.
  Family 1. Bimana.  Anterior limbs only, terminated by
hands: body vertical, plantigrade.
  Vol. lit.---32 
250
APPENDIX.
              Tribe II.  Quadrumana.
  The four limbs terminated by hands.
  Family 2.  Simiae. Resembling man; 4 incisive teeth in
each jaw.
  Family 3. Lemurini.  Resembling carnivorous animals;
incisors varying in number, shape  and situation; nostrils
at the tip of the snout.
  Family 4.  Dermoptera.  Digits of the anterior limbs
moderate, robust, all furnished with compressed incurved
nails; connecting membrane pilous.

             ORDER II.  Cheiroptera.

  Mammae 2, pectoral; penis free:  limbs connected by a
membrane formed for flying.
  Family 5.  Cheiroptera.  Digits of the anterior limbs
excessively  elongated, comprised in an expansion of the
naked membrane of the flanks, thumb free, but not oppos-
able.
                ORDER III.  Ferje.

  Mammae  abdominal, numerous; penis attached to the
belly;  limbs free, formed for walking; the anterior not
terminating  by hands.
  Family 6.  Insectivora.   Plantigrade; no carnivorous
teeth; false molars acute; 3 or 4 tuberculous grinders on
each side of both jaws; from one to six incisors.
  Family 7. Carnivora.   Last molar, at least, tuberculous;
2 strong canine, and 6 incisive teeth above and below.
            * Plantigrada.   ** Digitigrada.
  Family 8.  Marsupialia.   Females with a pouch; both
sexes furnished with marsupial bones: hind thumb destitute
of nail: opposable; sometimes wanting.
  * 2 canines and several small incisors above and below.
  ** No canine below—at least 6 incisors above. 
APPENDIX.                 251
              ORDER IV.  Pinnipedia.

  Mammae abdominal; penis attached to the belly: feet very
short, covered by a skin formed for swimming, the posterior
turned backward.
  Family 9.  Pinnipedia.
          §§ Not more than two kinds of teeth.

                 ORDER  V.  Glires.

  No canine teeth; incisive 2 below, 2, 4, or 6 above; 22
molar at most; jaws moving horizontally.
  * Females with a pouch; both sexes with marsupial bones.
  Family 10.   Marsupialia.(l)  Incisive 2 or 6 above.
            ** No pouch, no marsupial bones.
            t Clavicles distinct omnivorous.
  Family 11.   Murina.
         tt  Clavicles rudimental.  Herbivorous.
  Family 12.  Aculeata. Skin covered with prickles; up-
per incisors 2; toes 4-5.
  Family 13.   Duplicidentata. Skin covered with hair;
upper incisors 4, (6 in young subjects;) toes 5-4.
  Family 14. Subungulata. Skin covered with hair; upper
incisors 2; molars 16; posterior toes 3 or 5, but lateral each
side, very small.
                 * 5 toed.   **  4-3 toed.

                 ORDER  VI.   Bruta.

  No  canine nor incisor teeth; (except in one genus in
which there are 4 below;)  from 14 to 98 molars, or none;
nails enveloping the extremities of the digits, almost hoop
shaped.
  (1) We scatter the marsupial animals, as naturally they should be sepa-
rated: their resemblance being merely of analogy and not of affinity,
two things often confounded in natural history. 
252
APPENDIX.
  Family 15.   Tardigrada.  All having teeth; 18 molars
at most; no incisors; snout short; limbs much elongated.
  Family 16.   Effodientia.  Some edentous; some having
incisors; molars from 26 to 98; snout elongated; limbs well
proportioned to the  body.
  * Incisors and molars.  ** Molars.   *** No teeth at all.
            X Ungulata.  J % Vermilinguia.

               Section II.  Ungulata.
  Nails hoof-shaped, covering the last phalanges  of the
digits: no clavicles; the fore-arm always in a state of pro-
nation.

               ORDER VII.  Pecora.

  Rarely three kinds of teeth; no incisors above; feet didac-
tyle, with two hoofs; the metacarpal and metatarsal  bones
united; four stomachs; ruminating.
  Family 17.  Cavicornia.  No canine teeth; both sexes
having permanent horns, composed of a solid nucleus, grow-
ing from the frontal bones, and of an elastic thin case.
  * Lacrymatories; nucleus entirely solid. ** Np lacryma-
    tories; nucleus cellulous.
  Family 18.  Devexa.  No canine teeth; both sexes with
permanent solid horns covered by a skin.
  Family 19.  Capreoli.  No canine teeth; in general the
males only having caducous solid, branched horns, cover-
ed at least for a time by a hirsute skin.
  Family 20.  Tylopoda.  With canine teeth; hornless.

               ORDER VIII.   Bellua.

  Generally three kinds of teeth; stomach simple;  or di-
vided into several pouches, but not for rumination.
  Family 21.  Solidungula.  Feet apparently monodac-
tyle. 
APPENDIX.
253
  Family 22.   Fissipedes.   Toes 3 or 4, but in the inter-
mediaries approximated; others 4-3 toed.
       * Toes  4-3.   ** Toes 4-4  *** Toes 2-2.
  Family 23.   Pachydermata.  Feet pentadactyle or tri-
dactyle, the other digits being rudimental; digits only per-
ceived externally, &c.
     * Pentadactyla, (Proboscida.)  ** Tridactyla.

               SUB-CLASS  II.  BlPEDA.
  No hind limbs; (merely indicated by bones.) Fore limbs
fins; neck not distinct from the body; body pisciform, ter-
minating in a cartilaginous horizontal fin-shaped tail.
  (Live in the water;  have no external ears, nor hair on
the body.

                 ORDER  IX.  Cete.

  Family 24.   Sirenia. Mammae pectoral; no blow-holes.
  Family 25.   Hydraula.  Mammae inguinal; with blow-
holes. 
ANALYTICAL  TABLE
                   OF THE

NORTH AMERICAN GENERA.
                 ORDER PRIMATES.

                    FAMILY BIMANA.
 Genus 1. Homo.

               ORDER CHEIROPTERA.

                 FAMILY CHEIROPTERA.
 Genus 2. Vespertilio.

                    ORDER FERtE.
                 FAMDLY INSECTIVORA.
 Genus 3. Sorex. Ears short, rounded.
 Genus 4. Scalops.  No external ears: snout simple.
 Genus 5. Condylura.  No external ears: snout stellated.
                  FAMDLY CARNIVORA.
        * Plantigrada.  Treading on the whole sole of the foot.
 Genus 6. Ursus. Seven molar on each side: tail short: no anal odo-
         riferous follicules.
Genus 7. Procyon.  Six molars on each side: tail very long, pilous: no
         anal follicules.
Genus 8. Meles. Five molars on each side? tail short, pilous: an anal
        pouch filled with fetid unctuous substance.
Genus 9. Gulo.  Five molars above, six below on each 6ide: tail moder-
         ate or short: two folds of the skin near the anus, but no
         ana] pouch. 
APPENDIX.
255
     •* Digitigrada.  Treading on the extremities of their digits.
       a. Only one tuberculous behind the upper carnivorous tooth:
          body  much elongated, vermiform: feet short.
Genus  10. Mustek.  Toes cleft: tail moderate and bushy.
Genus  11. Mephitis.  Toes cleft: tail long and bushy or wanting.
Genus  12. Lutra.  Toes palmated.
       b. Two tuberculous behind the upper carnivorous tooth.
Genus  13. Canis.  Feet 5—4 toed; nails not retractile: tongue smooth.
       c. No small tooth behind the inferior large molar.
Genus  14. Felis.  Feet 5—4 toed: nails retractile: tongue prickly.
                    FAMILY MARSUPIA.LIA.
Genus  15. Didelphis.

                  ORDER PINNIPEDIA.
                    FAMILY PINNIPEDIA.
Genus 16. Phoca.  Both jaws furnished with incisive and canine teeth.
Genus 17. Trichecus.  No incisors nor canine below; superior canine
          greatly prolonged below the lower jaw.

                     ORDER  GLIRES.
                      FAMILY murini.
Genus 18. Castor.  Feet five toed, anterior cleft, posterior palmated;
          tail wide, depressed, thick, oval, naked and scaly.
Genus 19. Fiber.  Feet five toed, anterior simple, posterior furnished
          with stiff bristles replacing the membrane; tail compressed,
          linear, scaly, with scattered bristles.
Genus 20. Arvicola.  Feet simple; tail cylindrical, hairy,  grinders
          without radicles.
Genus 21. Neotoma.  Feet simple; tail cylindrical, hairy: grinders with
          profound radicles, and with small marked triangles.
Genus 22. Sigmodon.  Feet simple; cylindrical, hairy: molars in each
          jaw, six,  subequal, with radicles, and with deep, alternate
          folds towards the summit.
Genus 23. Mus.   Feet simple; tail cylindrical, subnaked, scaly, with
          scattered hairs.
Genus 24. Gerbillus.   Hind feet very long, five toed, each furnished
          with a distinct metatarsal bone; tail elongated, more or less1
          bushy, but without tuft at tip. 
256
APPENDIX.
 Genus 25. Arctemys.  Feet and tail short; nails robust; inferior inci-
          sive subulate.
 Genus 26. Sciurus.  Hind feet turned towards each other:  nails very
          sharp; tail long and bushy; inf. incisive much compressed.
 Genus 27. Pertmys.  Tail long and bushy; skin of the flanks extend-
          ed between the fore and hind limbs.

                    FAMILY  ACULEATA.
 Genus 28. Hystrix.
                FAMILY  DUPLICIDENTATA.
 Genus 29.  Lepus.  Hind limbs very long: ears very long: tail short.

                    ORDER  PECORA.

                    FAMILY CAVICORN1A.
                    * Nucleus of the horns solid.
 Genus 30.  Antelope.
                 ** Nucleus of the horns cellular.
 Genus 31.  Ovis.  Tail destitute of terminal tuft.
 Genus 32. Bos.  Tail ending in a bushy tuft.

                    FAMILY CAPREOLI.
 Genus 33. Cervus.

                     ORDER CETE.

                     FAMILY  SIRENIA.
 Genus 34.  Manatus.  Body oblong, ending in an oval, horizontal
         fin; pectoral fins furnished with rudiments of nails.
 Genus 35. Stellerus.  Body elongated, ending in a crescent shaped fin;
         no rudiment of nails.
                    FAMILY HYDRAULA.
 Genus 36. Delphinus.  Head proportioned: teeth.
 Genus 37. Monodon.  Head proportioned: no teeth.
Genus 38. Physeter.  Head exceedingly disproportioned: teeth.
 Genus 39. Balaena.   Head  exceedingly disproportioned: teeth  carti-
         laginous, or rather cartilages instead of teeth. 
INDEX.
Antelope      -
Arctomys     -
         Monax
         Empetra
         Franklinii  -
         Richardsonii
         Tridecemlineatus
         Ludovicianus
         Parryii
Argali        -
Arvicola      -
         Xanthognatus
         Riparius
         Hispidus
         Floridanus   -
Badger
         American
Balaena        -
       Mysticetus
       Physalis
       Musculus
       Boops
       Rostrata
Bat    -
    Carolina
    New York
    Hoary
    Arcuated
    Subulate
Bear   -      -       -      -
     Brown
     American or Black
     Grizzly
   Vol. III.----33 
258
INDEX.
Bear Polar
Beaver
       Fabulous History
       Description of
Belluae
Bison  -
Bos
    Americanus
    Moschatus
Bruta  -
Cachalot
         Spermaceti
Canis  -
     Familiaris
     Lupus
     Latrans
     Nubilus
     Lycaon
     Lagopus
     Argentatus
     Fulvus
     Cinereo-Argentatus
     Velox
Capra
     Montana
Carnivora
         Amphibia
Castor
      Fiber
Cat    -  '    -
    Common wild
Cervus
       Alcis
       Tarandus
       Canadensis
       Macrotis
       Virginianus
Cete (Order)  -
     (Family)
Cheiroptera
Condylura
Cougar  -
Deer   -
     Black-Tail
     Common
Vol.	Page
i.	143
ii.	19
ii.	38
ii.	55
ii.	202
iii.	4
iii.	3
iii.	4
iii.	29
ii.	173
iii.	93
iii.	94
i.	232
i.	243
i.	255
i.	260
i.	265
i.	267
i.	268
i.	274
i.	276
i.	280
i.	282
ii.	326
ii.	ib.
i.	107
i.	305
ii.	19
ii.	21
i.	285
iii.	239
ii.	271
ii.	274
ii.	283
ii.	294
ii.	304
ii.	306
iii.	37
iii.	56
i.	48
i.	97
i.	291
ii.	271
ii.	304
ii.	306
 
INDEX.
259
			Vol.	Page
Delphinus (Tribe)	_	.	iii.	57
Genus	.	_	iii.	58
Delphis	-	.	iii.	59
Gladiator	_	_	iii.	67
Phocoena	.	_	iii.	69
Didelphis	-	-	ii.	4
Virginiana -	-	.	ii.	7
Digitigrada	-	-	i.	191
Dog	-	-	i.	232
Domestic	-	_	i.	243
Newfoundland	.	_	i.	254
Dolphin Proper	-	-	iii.	57
(Genus)	-	-	iii.	58
True	-	-	iii.	59
Gladiator	-	-	iii.	67
Elk -	.	.	ii.	294
Wistar's Fossil	-	-	iii.	242
Elephant	-	-	ii.	253
Fossil	-		ii.	255
Elephas	-	-	ii.	253
Primogenius	-	-	ii.	255
Ermine Weasel	-	-	i.	193
Felis -	-	-	i.	285
Concolor	-	-	i.	291
Canadensis	-	.	i.	302
Ferae	-	.	iii.	239
Rufa	-	-	i.	146
Fiber -	-	-	ii.	57
Zibethicus	-	-	ii.	58
Field Mouse -	-	-	ii.	63
Flying Squirrel	-	-	ii.	146
Fox Arctic	-	-	i.	268
Black or Silver -	-	-	i.	274
Red	-	-	i.	276
Gray	-	-	i.	280
Swift	-	-	i.	282
Gerbillus	-	• -	ii.	93
Canadensis -	-	-	ii.	94
Labradorius	-	-	ii.	97
Glires	-	-	ii	17
Glutton	-	-	i	184
Gulo -	-	-	i.	ib.
Luscus	-	-	i.	185
Hairy Campagnol	-	-	ii.	68
Hare -	-	-	ii.	155
American	-	-	ii.	157
 
260
INDEX.
Hare Polar
Herbivorous Cetacious animals
Hystrix       -
        Dorsata
Inclaviculata   -
Indian        -
Insectivora
Isatis  -      -     -      -
Jumping Mouse
               Labrador
Lamailin     -
         American
Lemming     -
         Hudson's Bay
Lemmus      -
         Hudsonius -
Lepus        -
        Americanus -
        Glacialis
Lutra   -
       Brasiliensis
       Marina
Lynx  Northern
       Bay    -
Man American
Manatus
        Americanus
Marmot
        Maryland
        Quebec
         Franklin's
         Tawny American
         Hood's
         Prairie
         Parry's
 Marsh Campagnol
 Marsupialia
 Marten
         Pine  -
         Pennant's
 Mastodon
          Gigantic
 Meadow Mouse
 Megatherium
             Cuvieri 
INDEX.
261
                                             Vol.  Page
Megatherium Jeffersonii     -      -      -    ii.  196
Mephitis      -      -      -      -      -    i.   211
        Americana   -      -      -      -    i.   213
Meles        -      -      -      -      -    i.   176
      Labradoria     -      -      -      -  ,  i.   179
Mink  -      -      -      -                 i.   206
Mole Star-nose       -      -      -           i.   100
Monodon     -                               iii.   80
         Monoceros                -           iii.   ib.
Moose        -----    ii.  274
Morse        -----    i.   351
Mouse Common      -      -      -      -    ii.    84
       Rustic        -      -      -       -    ii.   88
Mus    -      -      -      -      -           ii.    76
      Decumanus     -      -      -           ii.    78
      Rattus   -      -      -      -           ii.    83
      Musculus       -      -      -           ii.    84
      Agrarius        -      -      -      -    ii.    88
Musk Ox                                     iii.   29
Musk Rat           -       -                 ii.    57
Mustela      -      -      -      -      -    i.   191
        Erminea     -      -      -           i.   193   .
        Martes      -      -      -           i.   200
        Pennanti    -      -      -           i.   203
        Lutriola     -      -      -           i.   206
        Zibellina    -      -      -       -    i.   208
Narwal       -----    iii.   81
Opossum       -      -       -      -     -    ii.     4
          Common   -       -      -     ii.  7-iii. 241
Otter  ------    i.   220
      American      -      -      -           i.   222
      Sea     -      -      -      -           i.   228
Ovis......ii.  328
      Ammon        -      -      -      -    ii.  329
Ox.....-    iii-    3
    Wistar's Fossil   -                         iii. 243
    Great Fossil     -                        iii.  ib.
    Dekay's Fossil   -                        iii. 244
Pecora       -----    ii.  267
Phoca.....i.   306
      Vitulina       -      -      -      -    i.   313
      Cristata        -      -      -      -    i.   336
      Barbata        -      -      -      -    i.   342
      Groenlandica          -            -    i.   343
      Fetida         -       -      -      -    i.   345
S 
262                  INDEX.
Phoca Ursina
Physeter     -
         Macrocephalus
Piscivorous Cetaceous animals
Plantigrada   -
Porcupine Canada
Porpus       -
Pouched Rat
Proboscidia   -
Procyon     -
        Lotor
Pseudostoma
Pteromys     -
         Volucella
Rabbit
Raccoon     -
Rat    -
    Brown or Norway
    Black'
Rein Deer   -
Sable
Scalops
Sciurus      -
        Vulpinus
        Cinereus
        Carolinensis
        Niger
        Macroureus
        Grammurus
        Quadrivittatus
        Hudsonius
        Rufiventer   -
        Striatus
        Lateralis
Seal    -
     Common
     Hooded
     Great
     Harp
     Fetid
     Ursine
 Sea-Swine
 Sea-Unicorn
 Sirenia
 Sheep
Vol.	Page
i.	346
iii.	93
iii.	94
iii.	56
i.	108
ii.	149
iii.	69
ii.	89
ii.	202
i.	161
i.	163
ii.	89
ii.	146
ii.	ib.
ii.	157
i.	161
ii.	76
ii.	78
ii.	83
ii.	283
i.	208
i.	81
ii.	122
ii.	128
ii.	129
ii.	131
ii.	133
ii.	134
ii.	136
ii.	137
ii.	138
ii.	141
ii.	142
ii.	144
i.	306
i.	813
i.	336
i.	342
i.	343
i.	345
i.	346
iii.	169
iii.	81
iii	39
ii.	328
 
INDEX.
263
			Vol.	Page
Shrew - -	.	_	1.	74
Mjole	.	„	i.	81
Skunk -	.	_	i.	211
Sloth - . .	_	_	ii.	173
Giant	-	-	ii.	ib.
Cuvier's	_	.	ii.	180
Jefferson's	_	_	ii.	197
Sorex -	_	_	i.	74
Parvus	.	_	i.	78
Brevicaudus	-	.	i.	79
Araneus	-	_	i.	80
Squirrel	-	-	ii.	122
Fox	-	-	ii.	128
Cat -	-	.	ii.	129
Common Gray	-	-	ii.	131
Black	-	-	ii.	133
Great Tailed	-	-	ii.	134
Line do -	-	-	ii.	136
Four Lined	-	-	ii.	137
Hudson's Bay	-	-	ii.	138
Red Belly -		-	ii.	141
Ground	-	-	ii.	142
Rocky Mountain		-	ii.	144
Stellerus ...	-	-	iii.	49
Borealis	-	-	iii.	50
Steller	-	-	iii.	49
Boreal	-	-	iii.	50
Trichecus -	-	-	i.	351
Rosmarus	-	-	i.	354
Tardigrada .	-	-	ii.	173
Ursus - _ -	-	-	i.	109
Americanus	-	-	i.	114
Horribilis	-	-	i.	131
Maritimus	-	-	i.	143
Vespertilio -	-	-	i.	51
Carolinensis	-	-	i.	67
Noveboracensis	-	-	i.	67
Pruinosus	-	-	i.	ib.
Arcuatus		-	i.	70
Subulatus	-	-	i.	71
Walrus - . -	-	-	i.	354
Mitchill's Fossil	-	-	iii.	245
Weasel	-	-	i.	193
Whale	-	-	iii.	98
Razor-back	-	-	iii.	137
 
264
INDEX.
Vol.	Page
iii.	141
m.	142
ai.	144
i.	255
i.	260
i.	265
	267
i.	185
n.	69
         ERRATUM.

Page 239, 5th line, for 203 read 302.
Whale Broad-nosed
        Finner
        Beaked
Wolf Common
      Prairie or Barking
      Dusky
      Black   -
Wolverine
Wood-Rat 
 
NLM032042135