. The American natural history : a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. uest settles down to a hunt for whalebone alone. Whale oil is no longer the valuable commodity it wasfifty and more years ago, but the hunt for baleen will ulti-mately exterminate all the whales of this Family. The Bow-Head Whale is of medium size, rarely attaining 65 feet, andusually runs under 50; yet it is uncommonly rich, both inbaleen and oil. A large whale of this species is said to yield275 barrels of oil, and 3,500 pounds of whalebone. On the coast of Newfoundland there are now fiv
. The American natural history : a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America. uest settles down to a hunt for whalebone alone. Whale oil is no longer the valuable commodity it wasfifty and more years ago, but the hunt for baleen will ulti-mately exterminate all the whales of this Family. The Bow-Head Whale is of medium size, rarely attaining 65 feet, andusually runs under 50; yet it is uncommonly rich, both inbaleen and oil. A large whale of this species is said to yield275 barrels of oil, and 3,500 pounds of whalebone. On the coast of Newfoundland there are now five whalingstations which during the summer season do a thriving busi- ^ Bal-aena mys-ti-cetus. \^^^EN a\^ales are harpooned 143 ness. Small whales of two or three species are killed inadjacent waters, towed to the stations, and hauled up onways. In a single day a whale forty feet long is completelyworked up, and practically every part of the animal yieldsa commercially valuable product. When a whale is struck by a harpoon, it dives deeply toescape its foes, and remains under water as long as BOW-HEAD WHALE. Balaena mysticetus. The comfortable period for a whale to remain under wateris fifteen minutes, but in feeding below the surface, this isoften extended to twenty-five minutes. Harpooned whalessometimes descend 300 feet and lie on the muddy bottom ofa shallow sea for a period of from fifty minutes to an hourand twenty minutes. But whalers know that their victim must sooner or latercome to the surface or drown. As a whale reaches the sur-face, it immediately discharges its breath from the blow-holes situated on top of its head. A whale does not spoutwater, but the breath which comes from its lungs is so heavilyladen with moisture that at a little distance it looks like water. 144 WHALES AND PORPOISES especially when it curves over and falls into the sea. It isthis spouting which reveals the whale to its enemy in thecrows-nest of the whaling vessel, and causes him to
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