Part 5

Seals have a very delicate sense of hearing, and are very much delighted with music. The Captain’s son, who was a good performer on the violin, never failed to have a numerous auditory, when we were in the seas frequented by those animals; and I have seen them follow the ship for miles when any person was playing on deck. This fact was observed by the ancient poets[19], and is thus alluded to by Sir Walter Scott, in one of his poems:

“Rude Heiskar’s seals, through surges dark, Will long pursue the minstrel’s bark.”

[19] _Apol. Rhod._ lib. 1. _Val. Flac._ lib. 5: lin. 440. _Gaudebant armine Phocæ._

These animals, in swimming, _constantly keep the head_, and often the whole body, as far as the shoulder, above the surface of the water. The first I saw was at a considerable distance, and might easily have been mistaken for a man, though it was much liker a dog.

Buffon has already remarked, that this animal had given a foundation to the poetic fiction of the Nereids in antiquity; and perhaps we may add, to the no less fictitious mermaids of modern times.

The Arctic walrus, or _Trichechus rosmarus_ of Linnæus, the other great variety of the Phocæ, frequents the bays and shores of Spitzbergen in vast numbers, though they are not now found in such quantities as when the Europeans first navigated these seas. The walrus is considerably larger than the seal, being sometimes found eighteen feet long, and twelve round, where thickest[20]. Their characteristic difference, however, consists in the walrus having two very large tusks, or horns, like the elephant’s, projecting from his upper jaw. These are sometimes found of an extraordinary size, from two to three feet in length, and weighing twenty pounds. The tusks of the Spitzbergen walrus seldom attain this size, because there the animal is generally killed before attaining its full growth. It is only on the northern coast of Asiatic Russia, or where they are not molested by hunters, that such tusks are found.

[20] The largest we caught was only thirteen feet long and seven round.

With the exception of the tusks, the form of the walrus does not differ materially from that of the seal. Head round, with a short nose; mouth small, with strong bristles; small red eyes; short neck; colour variable; rest of the body similar to the seal; but its toes, especially in the hind feet, are much stronger.

The walrus is monogamous but in other respects its habits are nearly the same with those of the seal. It brings forth its young in the same manner, preys on the same kinds of fish, and, like the seal, ascends the ice, (more rarely the land,) to bask in the sun.

The walrus is a very valuable animal, yielding frequently half a tun of oil, equally valuable with that of the whale. The tusks are said to be more valuable than those of the elephant, as being more compact and hard, and consequently taking a finer polish: the skin, which is nearly an inch thick, is used to cover the masts or yards of ships, where they cross each other, to prevent their being injured by the friction. It was formerly cut into ropes; and Buffon mentions its being used at Paris in the springs of carriages.

The walrus becomes very furious when attacked, and the whole herd join to revenge any injury an individual may have received. If wounded in the water, they will sometimes surround the boat, and attempt to sink her, by striking their tusks against her sides and bottom. Their combats with the bear, their most dangerous enemy among the lower animals, have been already described.[21]

[21] This account is conformable to that given by the greatest number of writers, but Fabricius seems to be of a different opinion as to the ferocity of the walrus. “_Improviso vulneratus infeslat; venatore autem præviso fugit._” Faun. Groenl. p. 5.

The water and air round Spitzbergen abound more with inhabitants than the land; the fish are perhaps not more numerous than the birds, which are there seen in thousands: of these I shall only describe a few of the most curious species.

The _Procellaria glacialis_ or _Mallemukke_ of the Dutch, is found in very great abundance in the seas of Spitzbergen, especially in the whale-fishing season.--Bill yellow and strong; neck, tail, and under part of the body, white; back, and coverts of the wings, ash; primaries dusky; legs straw-colour.

The bird is carnivorous, and feeds on the blubber of cetaceous fish, and on other dead carcasses floating in the sea. They are often seen following whales, especially wounded ones, on whom they pounce at every time of their rising to breathe, and tear the blubber from their back. As soon as the carcass of a whale is sent adrift after the blubber is taken off, it is covered over with these voracious birds, who then make a loud worrying noise. When a fish is alongside the ship, they surround it in vast numbers, and are so eager of their prey, that they suffer themselves to be caught with the hand, and may be knocked down easily by those on the whale, or in the boats.

Though extremely fetid, the Greenlanders account the flesh of the Mallemukke good food, and eat it either raw or dressed. The fat they burn in lamps.

When caught, the Mallemukke not only attacks with its bill, but spurts the blubber out of its mouth and nostrils in the face of its captor. Their flight is a kind of race along the surface of the water. They build their nests on rugged precipices, and at other times seldom come to land.

_Larus parasiticus_, or Artic Gull. Bill dusky, and much curved at the end; crown black; back, wings, and tail, dusky; the rest white. The two middle feathers of the tail are three or four inches longer than the rest. The female is altogether brown. Length about fourteen inches.

The Artic gull lives almost solely on the fish taken by other birds; to obtain which, it follows and harasses them till they either drop their prey, or vomit with fear; it then devours the residue before it falls into the sea.[22] The Artic gull is frequently taken sleeping on the water.

[22] _Faun. Groenl._ p. 104.

_Anas mollissima_, or Eider Duck, is sometimes found on the coast of Spitzbergen in vast numbers, especially in winter. Bill black, and somewhat elevated; from the forehead, which is a glossy black, extends a dark purple stripe beyond each eye: neck, body, and tail, a mixture of black and white; legs green. The body of the female is mostly of an iron colour, striped with black; tail of an ash hue.

This species is about twice the size of the common domesticated duck, and its body is covered over with a thick coat of valuable down.

_Colymbus glacialis_, or Great Northern Diver.

Head and neck black; throat and hind part of the neck marked with a semilunar spot of white, and with white streaks, varied with white spots; upper part of the body and wings black, varied with white spots; tail duskish; legs black. Some of them are found three feet five inches long, and weigh sixteen lbs.

It makes its nest in the most remote parts of the North, in the islets of fresh water lakes. Each pair possesses a lake. Its sight is keen, flies well, and, darting obliquely, drops safely into its nest. When pursued, it saves itself by diving; but when it has young ones, it does not make its escape, but strives to beat off its enemy with its bill.

_Emberiza nivalis_, or Snow Bunting, is found in vast numbers at Spitzbergen, and as it is graminivorous, its frequenting a country so ill provided with vegetables, has justly been regarded as a very surprising phenomenon. It is not a large bird, and its colour varies with the season of the year.

As it does not seem necessary to notice the few insects which belong to Spitzbergen, some short account of its discovery is all that now remains for us to treat of regarding it.

The progress of discovery towards the North has been extremely slow. The ancients possessed no accurate knowledge of the countries north of the Rhine, though they made voyages a considerable way beyond that barrier. The accounts of the Hyperborei, as given by Pomponius Mela and Pliny, two geographical writers of great reputation, are perfectly fabulous, and afford an incontrovertible proof of the total ignorance they were in respecting the country they pretended to describe. During the long period of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, the desire of discovering foreign countries, like other liberal pursuits, had totally subsided. In the fifteenth century, however, men awakened from their lethargy, and the voyages of _Columbus_ and _Vasco de Gama_ constitute one of the most important epochs in the history of the human race. The spirit of adventure was aroused, and voyagers boldly ventured into hitherto unexplored seas. The English and Dutch navigators of the sixteenth century, envying the glory and wealth acquired by the Portuguese in their voyages to India by the Cape of Good Hope, were seized with the same spirit of adventure, and were fired with the hopes of opening a new route to those regions, by sailing round the north of Europe and Asia. Though these expectations were disappointed, yet to this stimulus the great discoveries made in the North are to be principally ascribed.

The honour of the discovery of Spitzbergen has been long contested between the English and the Dutch. The former claim it from Sir Hugh Willoughby’s pretended view of it in 1553; but the land seen by him being in latitude 72°, could not be any part of Spitzbergen, which extends no farther south than 76° 30´. Some writers have supposed, that if what Sir Hugh saw was not a fog bank, it must have been either the island of Jan Mayen, or some part of Greenland; while others allege, that it was either Nova Zembla, or the island of Kolgow. The English historians have likewise honoured Stephen Burrows with the title of second discoverer of this country in 1556, though he never advanced farther in these seas than the latitude of 70° 42´. The priority of this discovery indubitably belongs to the Dutch, who, under the pilotage of William Barentz, in 1596, not only discovered, but landed on some of the northernmost islands (in lat. 80°) by them named Spitzbergen, or Sharp Mountains.

Barentz, as already observed, in the same voyage discovered Cherry Island, which was by him called Bear Island; but changed its appellation in 1603, when it was discovered by a ship belonging to Sir Francis Cherry of London.

The English began the whale fishery at Spitzbergen immediately after its discovery by Barentz. The nation soon became sensible of the advantages to be derived from this trade, and Parliament gave premiums to the different adventurers. They had a formidable rival to contend with in the Dutch, who long were successful competitors with the English in this traffic[23].

[23] The Dutch, in the space of forty-six years caught 32,900 whales, the oil and whalebone of which sold for about £15,800,000. Malte Brun, tom. v. 298.

In Spitzbergen as well as in Jan Mayen, sailors have been frequently left till winter, from the same motives, and have generally met with the same fate; some, however, have been more fortunate, and have braved all the rigours of this inhospitable climate. In 1630, eight Englishmen were left here by accident, and, overcoming all the difficulties they were exposed to, by their ingenuity, were next summer found in good health. In 1743, four Russians were left here, and were not relieved till 1749, when three of the number were found alive, who had exhausted, as Pennant observes, all the ingenious contrivances related of Robinson Crusoe.

It is now time to continue the account of the remainder of our voyage, together with the whale-fishing, the great object for which voyages are made to this country.

Having made fast to an Iceberg on the 13th, as before remarked, near the south-west promontory of Cross Bay, we continued in that situation during the 14th, making all the necessary preparations for the fishing, and on the 15th we sailed about ten leagues from the shore in a westerly direction, making about one point towards the south. It blew this day a brisk gale from the east, which was intolerably cold; the wind at that time passes over large fields of ice, and in that climate, is _comparatively_ as noxious as it is in Britain. During a fresh easterly breeze, I have found the cold in the cabin so intense, that, notwithstanding we had a good fire and warm clothing, I have been obliged to put on furred gloves to enable me to hold a book. We this day killed several seals, and might have got many more, but they are not of much use unless the vessel be fitted out for their fishing only. This day we made fast to a large iceberg, and the latitude, by observation, was nearly 79°.

16th, We were almost encompassed by ice, and remained in the same situation as before.

17th, Remarkably warm. The men were forced to strip in warping the ship, sallying, &c. In warping, the men move from side to side in the boats, to break the _bay ice_, and, in sallying, they run from the one side of the vessel to the other, according to the motion, and the command of the person who takes the lead; this facilitates the motion of the ship through the ice. The thermometer this day stood at 41° in the cabin _without fire_. Being exposed to the sun on deck, it got up to 66°, where it remained stationary. On being hung in the shade, it fell to the freezing point.

18th, Continued forcing our way slowly through bay ice; almost no wind. In sultry days, and, indeed, in all weathers, navigators are much harassed in those seas by the fogs; they, however, chiefly occur towards the latter end of summer. They are excessively dense, and at a distance are frequently mistaken for land. In winter, when the cold is intense, a vapour called _fog smoke_ frequently arises from the chinks of the ice, which is so acrid as to excoriate the face and hands of those who approach it. We this day observed a _fog bank_, a little to the north-east, which at first we mistook for Hackluyt’s Headland, from which, however, we were then at a considerable distance. The edges of these _fog banks_ are so well defined, that the most experienced sailors often fall into such mistakes.

20th, Latitude by observation 79° 50´. Sea clear of ice, with a smart easterly breeze. In this parallel of latitude we ran 12° to the west in eighteen hours. This will not appear surprising on considering that a degree of longitude in this parallel is little more than ten miles.

21st, Fell in with a dead fish. This whale had been killed for a considerable time, and was entirely covered with Mallemukkes, and other voracious birds. At a distance it resembled a floating mass of feathers, but on our approaching it, we were almost stunned by the quarrelling noise of these _Harpies_. We brought it alongside and stripped it of its remaining blubber.

22d, After having stripped off the blubber, we sailed north-east; the sea was clear of ice, and the weather serene. A distant view of the icebergs reflecting the rays of the sun, added an inexpressible beauty and grandeur to the scene. They had all the appearance of illuminated Gothic castles, and realized the magnificence of fairy scenes.

23d, Killed a large whale. This animal, the largest with which men are as yet acquainted, is of that genus of fish termed cetaceous. Some classifiers of animals, because the cetaceous fish breathe by lungs, and not gills, and because they suckle their young, have, by a learned and laughable absurdity, ranked them among _quadrupeds_. It is needless, however, to say, that they want the distinguishing and decisive characteristics of quadrupeds; and hence, though they may correspond with them in some respects, they should assuredly be held to be of a different race.

The common whale, called by Linnæus _Balæna mysticetus_, has, it is affirmed, been sometimes found 160 feet long. In the seas of Spitzbergen and Greenland, however, whales now seldom reach 70 feet, being generally killed before they arrive at full growth. Head of a triangular shape, and nearly one-third of the size of the fish; under-lip much broader than the upper. Have no teeth, but merely laminæ in the upper jaw, similar to those found in the bill of a duck, but more closely set together, and of a black colour. Tongue, in ordinary sized whales, about 18 or 20 feet long; consists of a soft spongy fat, and frequently yields five or six barrels of oil. That article in commerce, commonly known by the name of _whalebone_, is found adhering to the upper jaw, in thin parallel laminæ, usually measuring from 3 to 10 or 12 feet in length; of these there are generally 200 on each side, which are fit for use. The breadth of the largest, at the thick end, where they are attached to the jaw, is about a foot. When the longest of these laminæ measures six feet, the whale is called a payable or size fish; for every one of which that is caught, the captain generally gets three guineas, the surgeon one, the carpenter one, &c. The whalebone is covered with long hair like that of a horse, which not only preserves the tongue from being hurt, but prevents their food from being returned when they eject the water from their mouths. The throat is not more than three or four inches wide; eyes and ears small. In the middle of the head are two orifices, commonly: called _blow holes_, through which they eject water to a great height. No dorsal fin; a large one under each eye. Body tapers gradually towards the tail, which is often above twenty feet broad, semilunar, and horizontal in respect to the body. Female larger than the male; her teats placed in the lower part of the belly.

The colour of the whale varies with its age; the back of some being black, of others black and white, and some are all white; under jaw and belly generally white, whatever may be their age. Some old whales have a broad white strip over their back down to the belly.

Their skin is smooth, lubricated, and about one inch thick. I had a book bound with some of the epidermis, or scarf-skin, which I brought home, but it did not altogether answer the purpose.

Their bodies, immediately under the skin, are covered with a layer of fat, called _blubber_, from 12 to 18 inches thick in large fish. This, in young whales, resembles hog’s lard; but in old ones it is of a reddish colour. A large whale will produce 12, 20, and sometimes 25 tuns of oil, which now sells at from £30 to £40 per tun.

Mr. Scoresby, jun. in a description of the _Balæna mysticetus_, published in the memoirs of the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, gives the following table of the ordinary quantity of oil produced from whales of different sizes of bones:

Bone in feet. Oil in tuns. 1 1½ 2 3 3 3½ 4 4 5 4½ 6 5½ 7 7 8 9 9 11 10 13 11 16 12 20

“The blubber of a sucker,” Mr. Scoresby observes, “when very young, frequently contains little or no oil, but only a kind of milky fluid; in which case, when the animal is deprived of life, the body sinks to the bottom, as also does the blubber when separated from it; while the body and blubber of larger individuals always swim. Though the preceding statement be exceedingly near the truth, yet exceptions occur; for I have known a whale of 2½ feet bone produce 10 tuns of oil, and one of 12 feet bone estimated at only 9 tuns; but such instances are much rarer than to see one of 2½ feet bone produce 4 or five tuns of oil.”

The _Balæna mysticetus_, according to Marten and other North Sea voyagers, feeds chiefly upon a species of _vermes_, called _Clio limacina_, or Sea May Fly,[24] which are found in surprising numbers throughout the Arctic seas. According to Fabricius, the principal food of the whale consists of two different species of sea insects;[25] while Linnæus maintains that they live chiefly on the _Medusa capillata_, or sea blubber. This last substance, commonly called by Greenlandmen _whale’s meat_, resembles frog-spawn, and is frequently seen floating on the surface of the Northern seas.

[24] Phipps, p. 195.

[25] _Cancer pedatus et oculatus._ Faun. Groenl. p. 33.

Mr. Scoresby says, “that he has good reason to believe that the whale feeds chiefly, if not altogether, on the _squillæ_ or shrimp tribe; for, on examining the stomach of one of large size, nothing else was found in it; they were about half an inch long, semi-transparent, and of a pale red colour.--I also found a great quantity in the mouth of another, having been apparently vomited by it. When the whale feeds, it swims with considerable velocity under water, with its mouth wide open; the water enters by the fore part, but is poured out again at the sides, and the food is entangled and sifted as it were by the whalebone, which does not allow any thing to escape.”

Their time of parturition is in April, and though they are said to bring forth two young ones at a time,[26] yet I never saw more than one along with such as we killed. Fabricius says, that, for the most part, they bring forth but one.[27] The female is frequently taken when endeavouring to save her young one, which is generally killed first by way of stratagem. She then strives to take it away under her fins; but, in the midst of these efforts, being overtaken by the boats, she falls a victim to her maternal affection.

[26] Br. Zool. Edit. 1769, vol. iii. p. 37.

[27] Faun. Groenl. loc. cit.

The female, during pregnancy, which is about nine or ten months, is very fat; and the cub, when excluded, is black, and about ten feet long. It continues at the breast for a year. To suckle her young, the mother throws herself upon one side on the surface of the water; she is frequently seen carrying it on her back, and when she has occasion to go to the bottom, takes it with her under one of her fins.

Whalebone was formerly an article of great value in commerce, and at one time sold for £600 per ton. It is not now, however, worth a twentieth part of that sum, and is not an object of any attention to the whale fishers. We may remark, that, by an old feudal law, the _tail_ of all whales belonged to the Queen,[28] as a perquisite to furnish her Majesty’s wardrobe with whalebone. A strong proof of the ignorance that had at that time prevailed respecting this animal.

[28] Blackstone, vol. i. p. 223. Edit. 1783.

The flesh of the whale is variously prepared by the Greenlanders, and is used either when newly catched, or when sub-putrid. The skin, tail, and fins, they eat raw; the blubber is used either as food, or in lamps; they dress the intestines like those of the seal. The tendons serve them as thread for nets. The bones serve as timber for roofing their houses, and other domestic purposes; and fishing-rods of the best quality are made from the whalebone.[29]

[29] Compare Fab. de Bal. Myst. with Arrian, Hist. Ind. § 29 and 30.

The common whale, notwithstanding its magnitude, swims with surprising agility, and generally against the wind. The flat position of its tail enables it to ascend suddenly to the surface of the water to breathe, which it is frequently obliged to do. Whales are very harmless and timid; but, when attacked, frequently strike the boats a dangerous blow with their tails, in which their greatest strength lies. About midsummer, when they begin to couple, they are very wild, and difficult to catch, unless harpooned during copulation,[30] or when found sleeping on the water.

[30] _Congreditur corpore erecto, capite supra aquam prominente._ Faun. Groenl. loc. cit.