The white whale, or beluga of the Russians, is a circumpolar species,
limited to the extreme northern coasts of the Old and the New Worlds.
The adult is entirely of a milk-white color, is very conspicuous, and
as it comes up to “blow” presents an interesting sight. The young
beluga is dark slate color, becoming gradually paler for several years
until it attains its growth. The beluga usually lives in the shallow
waters along shore, and not only frequents sheltered bays and tidal
streams, but ascends rivers for considerable distances. Plentiful along
the coast of Alaska, especially in Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean,
this whale also ascends the Yukon for a long distance. It also comes
down the Atlantic coast and enters the lower St. Lawrence River.
The white whale is said at times to attain a length of 20 feet, but
its ordinary length is nearer 10 or 12 feet. It travels in irregular
“schools” of from three to ten or fifteen individuals and usually rolls
high out of water when it comes up to breathe. It enters sheltered bays
and the lower courses of streams, mainly at night, in pursuit of fish,
which furnish its main food supply. During the twilight hours of the
Arctic summer night, glowing with beautiful colors, the ghostly white
forms of these whales breaking the smooth blue-black surface of a far
northern bay add the crowning effect of strange unworldly mystery to
the scene.
When on hunting trips in early autumn, I camped many times on the banks
of narrow tide channels leading through the coastal tundra, and for
hours during the darkness of night, as the tide was rising, heard the
deep-sighing sound of their blowing, as schools of belugas fished up
and down the current, often only 15 or 20 feet from where I lay.
The oil and flesh of the white whale is highly prized by the Eskimos,
and they not only pursue it in kyaks with harpoon and float, but set
large-meshed nets of strong seal-skin cords off projecting points near
entrances to bays. Young or medium-sized animals are often caught in
this manner, but powerful adults often tear the nets to fragments.
The beluga frequents broken pack ice along shore, and one trapped alive
by the closing ice north of the Yukon early one winter was reported by
the Eskimos to have uttered curious squeaking noises when they attacked
and killed it--an interesting fact, as the beluga is said to be the
only member of the whale family to make vocal sounds of any kind.
When a school has its curiosity aroused by the approach of a boat or
for any other cause, the members often raise their heads well out of
water, one after the other, and take a deliberate look, then dive and
swim to a safe distance before coming up again.
The small size of the beluga has long saved it from organized pursuit.
Recently it has been announced that its skin has become valuable for
commercial purposes, and that many are being killed. If this continues,
these harmless and interesting animals are likely soon to disappear
from most of their present haunts, unless proper measures can be taken
to protect them from undue killing.