human
Are there many kinds, papa?
gpt
Yes, my son, a good many; more than you could remember. Would you like me to tell you about some of the more interesting ones?
human
Oh, yes, indeed, papa!
gpt
There are the whalebone or true whales, which constitute a single family. They have no teeth, but, instead, horny plates of baleen or whalebone, which strain from the water the small animals upon which the whale feeds.
human
Oh, yes, I know about whalebones, said Ned.
gpt
Mamma and sisters have it in their dresses. And it comes out of the whale's mouth, does it, papa?
human
Yes; it is composed of many flattened, horny plates placed crosswise on either side of the palate, and separated from one another by an open space in the middle line. They are smooth on the outer side, but the inner edge of each plate is frayed out into a kind of fringe, giving a hairy appearance to the whole of the inside of the mouth when viewed from below.
gpt
Whalebone or baleen is black, isn't it, papa?
human
Not always; the color may vary from black to creamy white; and sometimes it is striped dark and light.
gpt
Is there much of it in one whale, papa?
human
Yes, a great deal on each side of the jaw; there are more than three hundred of the plates, which, in a fine specimen, are about ten or twelve feet long and eleven inches wide at their base; and so much as a ton's weight has been taken from a large whale.
gpt
And is the baleen all they kill the whales for, papa?
human
Oh, no, my son! the oil is very valuable, and there is a great deal of it in a large whale. One has been told of which yielded eighty-five barrels of oil.
gpt
Oh, my! that's a great deal, cried Ned.
human
What a big fellow he must have been to hold so much as that.
gpt
The whale is very valuable to the people of the polar regions, continued the Captain.
human
They eat the flesh, and drink the oil.
gpt
Oh, papa! drink oil!
human
It seems very disgusting to us, he said, with a smile,
gpt
Whales are so big and strong it must be very dangerous to go near them, I suppose,
human
That is the case with some of the species, he said,
gpt
Poor thing! sighed little Elsie,
human
I don't know how men can have the heart to be so cruel to animals that are not dangerous.