Sometimes a whale will turn its head downwards, and, moving its tremendous tail high in the air, will lash the water with violence, raising a cloud of vapor, and sending a loud report to the distance of two or three miles. This is called "lobtailing" by whalemen.
The oil of this species of whale is less valuable than the sperm. The "whalebone," which now has an advanced price in the market far beyond any previous value attached to it, is obtained from the mouth of the whale about in proportion of a thousand pounds to a hundred barrels of oil.
3. The Finback Whale. This is a smooth, slim fish—smaller usually than a right whale. He is found in nearly all latitudes. His head and mouth are of the same construction with those of the right whale. This whale is known by whalemen, when seen at a suitable distance, by his "blows." The column of vapor rises in a single stream in a vertical or perpendicular direction. This fish is termed finback on account of a fin on his back, differing in this particular from all other species of whale. The oil obtained from him is of the same quality as the right whale oil.
4. Bowhead Whale. This whale is smooth all over, having no "bonnet on his head," as whalemen say, and as right whales have. Their heads differ in shape somewhat from other whales, and hence the name bowhead given to them. This species of whale, so far as known, has never been found except in the Ochotsk Sea and Arctic Ocean.
The Greenland whale, and also the species called the great rorqual, are doubtless included in the name which our whalemen give to the bowhead.
There are several other varieties of the whale tribe, and different names are attached to them, such as the "scragg," the "humpback," &c.; but the foregoing are all the kinds whether of interest or profit to whalemen.
[CHAPTER III.]
Whale Blubber.—Enemies of the Whale.—Affection of the Whale for its Young.—Instances.
Whale Blubber. The following furnishes a succinct statement of whale blubber: "That structure in which the oil is, denominated blubber, is the true skin of the animal, modified, certainly, for the purpose of holding this fluid oil, but still being the true skin. Upon close examination, it is found to consist of an interlacement of fibres, crossing each other in every direction, as in common skin, but more open in texture, to leave room for the oil. Taking as an example that of an individual covered with an external layer of fat, we find we can trace the true skin without any difficulty, leaving a thick layer of cellular membrane loaded with fat, of the same nature as that in the other parts of the body; on the contrary, in the whale, it is altogether impossible to raise any layer of skin distinct from the rest of the blubber, however thick it may be; and, in flensing a whale the operator removes this blubber or skin from the muscular parts beneath, merely dividing with his spade the connecting cellular membrane.