Physalus antiquorum, Flem.—Big Finner, is found in Davis strait, chiefly on the cod-banks, where it devours immense numbers of fish. For its size it gives a remarkably small quantity of oil. On this account it is not killed by the whalers, and seldom by the natives.
Balaenoptera sibbaldii. Gray.—This whale is usually confounded with the one last mentioned; has the same range and habits, and is rarely killed by the natives.
Balaenoptera rostrata, Fab.—The Little Finner has the same range as the above, being well known to the Eskimos of Greenland and unknown to those of Baffin island.
Megaptera longimana, Gray.—The Humpback, appears on the Greenland coast in summer. Its whalebone is very short and of a poor quality, so that its price in no way compares with that of the Right whale. The blubber also is poor and makes little oil in comparison to its size.
Orca gladiator, Sund.—The Killer (Grampus, or Swordfish), is very voracious, and lives largely upon fish, seals, porpoises and white whales. It also attacks large Right whales, and on this account is disliked by the whalers, as the presence of a single Killer means the immediate flight of all creatures in that vicinity. Luckily it will not penetrate among the heavy floes, where the Right whales retreat for safety. Some idea of the destruction to life caused by the Killer may be formed from the fact that in the stomach of one were found fourteen porpoises and fourteen large seals; it choked to death swallowing the fifteenth. They chase seals and White whales on shore, and the seals are often seen jumping clear out of water in their endeavour to escape.
PORPOISES.
Phocaena communis, Brookes.—The porpoise arrives on the Greenland coast early in the spring, but does not go north of latitude 69° N., nor does it frequent the ice-laden seas of Baffin bay; it is unknown in Hudson strait and bay.
Beluga catadon, Gray.—The White whale or White porpoise (Kellulauak, Eskimo) is common to all the Arctic coasts, and remains throughout the year. It usually travels in large schools, frequenting the bays and mouths of rivers. In the north large numbers have been taken by the whalers along the coast of North Somerset, both in Prince Regent inlet and in Barrow strait. It is plentiful in the rivers at the heads of Cumberland gulf and Frobisher bay. Many are killed annually by the natives along the south shore of Hudson strait. The Hudson’s Bay Company has for several years past made successful fisheries in the mouth of the Koksoak river and in Leaf bay, both in the southwest part of Ungava bay. Similar fisheries were formerly conducted in the mouths of Great and Little Whale rivers on the east side of Hudson bay, but after some success the whales would not enter these rivers over the nets, and the fisheries were abandoned. The writer has seen great numbers of White whales in the mouths of the rivers to the northward of Little Whale river, notably so in that of the Nastapoka. The Eskimos depend upon the White whale for part of their food and lamp oil. The meat is coarse and dark, being, like that of the seals, highly charged with blood and having a fishy flavour. The boiled skin is a native dainty, and is in the same class as beaver-tail or moose nose, soft and gelatinous. There is little doubt that, with the opening of Hudson bay, the White whale fishery will become an important industry in many places in the bay and strait, and also along the coast to the northward.
Monodon monoceras, Linn.—The Narwhal has habits very similar to those of the White whale. It generally travels in bands, and appears to prefer the proximity of ice, so that its summer range is more northern than that of the White whale. The Baffin bay whalers obtain a considerable number of narwhal horns from the natives of north Greenland, the best place being in the vicinity of Cape York, or to the eastward of Melville bay.
The narwhal appears to replace the White whale in the waters of Ponds inlet, only the former being killed there. Numbers are taken in the ice by the whalers of Baffin bay; they are not uncommon about Cumberland gulf when the ice still covers its waters. The natives of Hudson strait kill numbers of these animals in the early summer, and after the shore-ice has formed in the early winter, but none are seen on the south shore during the open waters of summer. The narwhal is only found in the northern waters of Hudson bay, where it is abundant in the ice-laden waters of Fox channel and Frozen strait.