Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-04-06

The great bowhead of the Arctic regions is
the chief whale, hunted for its OIL This whale
is rarely, if ever, caught away from the ice.
In the summer it comes some distance south
with the ice foes. 1t used to be thought half
q century ago to be identical with the right
whale found in the waters of the temperate
zone. Though the right whale yields blubber
and whalebone in paving quantities, the blub-
Der is not so thick and the whalebone is not so
long as that of the great bowhead. 1t is to
capture the bowhead that our whalemen risk
their lives in the north Pacific. Often their
vessels are wrecked in the ice Of Behring sea
and the Arctic ocean,
The sperm whale inhabits chiefly the tropi-
cal regions, but has occasionally appeared as
far north in the Pacific as the California coast
and in the Atlantic in the vicinity Of the British
isles. This whale, besides its blubber carries
In hollow in its head a store Of spermaceti.
THE GREAT FINBAcK.
One OF the largest of the whales the finback
or blue whale, occurs in almost all waters.
There are known to be four species in the
north Atlantic. A regular fishery for these
whales has been established on the coast of
Norway. The fnback is 80 shy and such a
rapid swimmer that in early days of whaling
with appliances then in use it was next to i'm
possible to capture one. As the yield of blub-
Der and whalebone Is, comparatively, not great,
whalers gave their attention to cetaceans more
easy to capture. Since the introduction of
bomb-guns, which discharge an explosive
bomb, a great many whales of this species
have been killed and regular fishery has been
established in Norway, where several hundred
have been killed. The finback attains a length
OF 80 feet, and some of even greater length
have been captured. Some times a bomb is
discharged into q whale without the fuse being
lighted and does not go off, but the whale goes
on with the bomb. Recently, in one killed on
the Norway coast, was found bomb bearing
the name of E. E. Pierce. bombmaker of New
Bedford. This has raised an interesting oues-
ton as to whether the whale carried the bomb
all the way across the ocean. Prof True has
written to Mr.. Pierce and learned that he has
never sold any bombs to Norwegians but he
has sold them to Scotchmen. The whale may
have been shot by Scotch whaler.
SKELETON OF A HUMPBAcK
A skeleton Of a humpback whale, about 80
feet long, IL suspended across one end of the
hall from iron brackets, something like boat
davits on a ship. This was q mode of mount
ing designed by Mr.. Watkins, Of the museum
The weight Of the skeleton was calculated and
the brackets adjusted as to distribute the
strain evenly.
piers and arches, are suspended two other huge
skeletons, one hnback about 40 feet long, and
the other right whale about SO feet long The
fringe of the whalebone can be seen attached te
the jaws of the fnback and the humpback
whale.
The right whale was hunted by our fore
fathers in the Atlantic until it was nearly ex-
terminated. Within a few years the species
has become abundant again, and several have
appeared off the coast of Long Island. The
skeleton in the museum was from one of these.
and 1t was mounted and prepared for exhibit
ton by Mr.. Ward, Of Rochester. 1t was the
right whale that was hunted by the Basque
whalers on the Spanish coast in the middle
ages. These daring seamen made voyages far
out into the Atlantic in search of whales.