Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-04-30

:" A whale ship, fishing of the western
coast of Greenland. one day struck large
right whale-the largest the whalesmen
had seen during the cruise. Leviathan
started off in westerly direction and
night coming on, the boats were obliged to
cut from him, leaving the iron still stick
ing in his flesh. That was the last they
ever saw of him; but two days after, an
other vessel. engaged in the same business,
caught the same whale-of course identi-
tied by the irons-in the Polar basin, near
Behring's straits !" He had thus made
the famous northwest passage in 4S hours
the quickest time on record.
The food of the right whale consists of
small sea insects, or medusa, known to
whalesmen as " brit" These animalcules
are of reddish color, and generally about
the size of mustard-seed, though so netimes
very much larger. some being nearly half
an inch long. They float in immense
shoals upon the surface of the sea, some
times coIoring the water to the extent of
many miles as if it were blood. The whale
swlms in amongst them, with its lips drop
ped fiat along, or a little below, the sur
face; and when large quantities of the
" brit :" have surged into Its yawning cape,
it closes It's lips in an upward direction,
scooping the insects into its mouth, and
along with them several hogsheads of sea-
water. The jaws are then opened again,
and with a grand outward breath the water
is eJected through the whalebone fringes,
leaving the insects clinging to the coating
OF hair inside, there to be gathered up by
the whales great tongue and sent whole.
sale into its stomach.
Why the throat of this, which is almost
the largest animal in existence, should be
no larger than that of horse or OK may
appear an eccentrlcity of nature. Yet
such Is the case with Leviathan, to the
perplexing Of naturalsts. The Bible read
ers, too, may be puzzled by it, for certainly
the whale that swallowed Jonah could not
have been right whale.
As far as is known, whales are wholly
unlparous, no account being given of their
having ever been found with more than
one calf at time The young of the
right whale is at birth about twelve feet
long, and weighs nearly ton. 1t resem-
bles the parents in every respect, in size
and color, the latter being a shade lighter
than in the tull-grown animals. The COWS
are strongly attached to their young and
though at other times inoffensive, and evi.
DENLY unused to warfare, they are ever
ready to defend their offspring with fear
lessness and fury and will attack boats or
even ships in revenge for any injury io-
ilcted upon it. When the calf is first
born, the dam teaches it to swim, by keep
ing close alongside of it until the little one
gets tired, when she will dive under and
raise it up 50 that it may rest upon her
back. At this season the COWS are very
savage, and it is always regarded as a
dangerous movement to strike whale calf,
though it is sometime done for the pur
pose OF bringing the " school " to halt
When a right whale is sucking its calf, the
quantity OF milk is enormous and if the
mamm@ be cut open, the flow will whten
the ocean for rods around. When accom-
panied by its young, the right whale gen
orally endeavors to keep soundings -
probably for the purp Sc Of having within
easy reach a resting place for the calf.
Whether the right whales are migratory
in the ordinary sense Of the word is not
known, but certain 1t is that no dependence
can be placed on their movements. They
appear and disappear almost mysterously
at times, and no one can imagine whence
they come or whittier they 90. To-day,
-.oraS r,o-- ho ooun+a1 from, tho ,,,aotha,d
all steadily moving in the same direction,
tomorrow, not one will be in sight SIEVE
raj days after, you meet a vessel coming
from the direction in which they had dis
appeaeed, and learn from her that not
huSe has been seen. While you are Won
dering at this, you are startled by the cry
of " There she blows ~ and the next mo-
meut the ocean is alive with them, all NOV
Ing IN one dire ction-perhaps the very op
posite to that they were going to when las
seen. Where they stray to in their per
ambuIatlons is mystery, unless we may
suppose them to have been hidden under
water, but this, from the necessity OF their
coming to the service for respiration, is
plainly impossible. This habit of hide
andseek belongs also to the bowhead
whales, and is, perhaps, more peculiar to
them than to the black species.
\ very singular circumstance connected
with the habits Of these great cetaceans is
the mode of communication that exists
among them. BY some sort o! telegraphy,
as yet Unexplained one & school " can give
notice of danger to another at distance
of seventy miles. This has been often 90
served, and may be seen from the mast
head at any time when two schools are in
sight, and an individual in either has been
struck by the harpoon. The moment the
iron is fast, the spectator wi see the
whales Of the more distant schoo-t may
be fire miles or more off rolling IN d
straight line from the scene of danger
To Dag.