. The Arctic whaleman; or, Winter in the Arctic Ocean: being a narrative of the wreck of the whale ship Citizen .. . em. This species ofwhale, so far as known, has never been found except in theOchotsk Sea and Arctic Ocean. The Greenland whale, and also the species called the greatrorqual, are doubtless included in the name which our whale-men give to the bowhead. There are several other varieties of the whale tribe, and dif-ferent names are attached to them, such as the scragg, the humpback, &c.; but the foregoing arc all the kinds whetherof interest or profit to whalemen. CHAPTER in. Whale B
. The Arctic whaleman; or, Winter in the Arctic Ocean: being a narrative of the wreck of the whale ship Citizen .. . em. This species ofwhale, so far as known, has never been found except in theOchotsk Sea and Arctic Ocean. The Greenland whale, and also the species called the greatrorqual, are doubtless included in the name which our whale-men give to the bowhead. There are several other varieties of the whale tribe, and dif-ferent names are attached to them, such as the scragg, the humpback, &c.; but the foregoing arc all the kinds whetherof interest or profit to whalemen. CHAPTER in. Whale Blubber. — Enemies of the Whale. — Affection of the Whale for its Young. — Instances. Whale Blubber. The following furnishes a succinct state-ment 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 stillbeing the true skin. Upon close examination, it is found toconsist of an interlacement of fibres, crossing each other inevery direction, as in common skin, but more open in texture,. HISTORY AND DETAILS OF WHALING. 259 to leave room for the oil. Taking as an example that of anindividual covered with an external layer of fat, we find wecan trace the true skin without any difficulty, leaving a thicklayer of cellular membrane loaded with fat, of the same natureas that in the other parts of the body; on the contrary, in thewhale, it is altogether impossible to raise any layer of skin dis-tinct from the rest of the blubber, however thick it may be;and, in flensing a whale the operator removes this blubber orskin from the muscular parts beneath, merely dividing withhis spade the connecting cellular membrane. 11 Such a structure as this, being firm and elastic in the high-est degree, operates like so much india rubber, possessing adensity and power of resistance which increases with thepressure. But this thick coating of fat subserves other im-portant uses. An
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