22d, After having stripped off the blubber, we sailed north-east; the sea was clear of ice, and the weather serene. A distant view of the icebergs reflecting the rays of the sun, added an inexpressible beauty and grandeur to the scene. They had all the appearance of illuminated Gothic castles, and realized the magnificence of fairy scenes.
23d, Killed a large whale. This animal, the largest with which men are as yet acquainted, is of that genus of fish termed cetaceous. Some classifiers of animals, because the cetaceous fish breathe by lungs, and not gills, and because they suckle their young, have, by a learned and laughable absurdity, ranked them among quadrupeds. It is needless, however, to say, that they want the distinguishing and decisive characteristics of quadrupeds; and hence, though they may correspond with them in some respects, they should assuredly be held to be of a different race.
The common whale, called by Linnæus Balæna mysticetus, has, it is affirmed, been sometimes found 160 feet long. In the seas of Spitzbergen and Greenland, however, whales now seldom reach 70 feet, being generally killed before they arrive at full growth. Head of a triangular shape, and nearly one-third of the size of the fish; under-lip much broader than the upper. Have no teeth, but merely laminæ in the upper jaw, similar to those found in the bill of a duck, but more closely set together, and of a black colour. Tongue, in ordinary sized whales, about 18 or 20 feet long; consists of a soft spongy fat, and frequently yields five or six barrels of oil. That article in commerce, commonly known by the name of whalebone, is found adhering to the upper jaw, in thin parallel laminæ, usually measuring from 3 to 10 or 12 feet in length; of these there are generally 200 on each side, which are fit for use. The breadth of the largest, at the thick end, where they are attached to the jaw, is about a foot. When the longest of these laminæ measures six feet, the whale is called a payable or size fish; for every one of which that is caught, the captain generally gets three guineas, the surgeon one, the carpenter one, &c. The whalebone is covered with long hair like that of a horse, which not only preserves the tongue from being hurt, but prevents their food from being returned when they eject the water from their mouths. The throat is not more than three or four inches wide; eyes and ears small. In the middle of the head are two orifices, commonly: called blow holes, through which they eject water to a great height. No dorsal fin; a large one under each eye. Body tapers gradually towards the tail, which is often above twenty feet broad, semilunar, and horizontal in respect to the body. Female larger than the male; her teats placed in the lower part of the belly.
The colour of the whale varies with its age; the back of some being black, of others black and white, and some are all white; under jaw and belly generally white, whatever may be their age. Some old whales have a broad white strip over their back down to the belly.
Their skin is smooth, lubricated, and about one inch thick. I had a book bound with some of the epidermis, or scarf-skin, which I brought home, but it did not altogether answer the purpose.
Their bodies, immediately under the skin, are covered with a layer of fat, called blubber, from 12 to 18 inches thick in large fish. This, in young whales, resembles hog’s lard; but in old ones it is of a reddish colour. A large whale will produce 12, 20, and sometimes 25 tuns of oil, which now sells at from £30 to £40 per tun.
Mr. Scoresby, jun. in a description of the Balæna mysticetus, published in the memoirs of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, gives the following table of the ordinary quantity of oil produced from whales of different sizes of bones:
| Bone in feet. | Oil in tuns. | Bone in feet. | Oil in tuns. | ||||
| 1 | 1½ | 7 | 7 | ||||
| 2 | 3 | 8 | 9 | ||||
| 3 | 3½ | 9 | 11 | ||||
| 4 | 4 | 10 | 13 | ||||
| 5 | 4½ | 11 | 16 | ||||
| 6 | 5½ | 12 | 20 | ||||
“The blubber of a sucker,” Mr. Scoresby observes, “when very young, frequently contains little or no oil, but only a kind of milky fluid; in which case, when the animal is deprived of life, the body sinks to the bottom, as also does the blubber when separated from it; while the body and blubber of larger individuals always swim. Though the preceding statement be exceedingly near the truth, yet exceptions occur; for I have known a whale of 2½ feet bone produce 10 tuns of oil, and one of 12 feet bone estimated at only 9 tuns; but such instances are much rarer than to see one of 2½ feet bone produce 4 or five tuns of oil.”
The Balæna mysticetus, according to Marten and other North Sea voyagers, feeds chiefly upon a species of vermes, called Clio limacina, or Sea May Fly,[24] which are found in surprising numbers throughout the Arctic seas. According to Fabricius, the principal food of the whale consists of two different species of sea insects;[25] while Linnæus maintains that they live chiefly on the Medusa capillata, or sea blubber. This last substance, commonly called by Greenlandmen whale’s meat, resembles frog-spawn, and is frequently seen floating on the surface of the Northern seas.