The edges of these bones are fringed with hairy fibres,
through which the Right Whale strains the water, and in whose
intricacies he retains the small fish, when openmouthed he goes
through the seas of brit in feeding time. In the central blinds
of bone, as they stand in their natural order, there are certain
curious marks, curves, hollows, and ridges, whereby some whalemen
calculate the creature's age, as the age of an oak by its circular rings.
Though the certainty of this criterion is far from demonstrable,
yet it has the savor of analogical probability. At any rate,
if we yield to it, we must grant a far greater age to the Right Whale
than at first glance will seem reasonable.
In old times, there seem to have prevailed the most curious fancies
concerning these blinds. One voyager in Purchas calls them the wondrous
"whiskers" inside of the whale's mouth;* another, "hogs' bristles";
a third old gentleman in Hackluyt uses the following elegant language:
"There are about two hundred and fifty fins growing on each side of his
upper chop, which arch over his tongue on each side of his mouth."
*This reminds us that the Right Whale really has a sort of whisker,
or rather a moustache, consisting of a few scattered white
hairs on the upper part of the outer end of the lower jaw.
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