Page:Journal of a Voyage to Greenland, in the Year 1821.djvu/85

Rh the quantity of the intestines was extremely great, and their convolutions arranged in a manner similar to those of other animals, and filled with a milky substance drawn from its mother: the kidneys were flat and conglomerated, and composed of small parts, which, from their evenness, being under a filament, had the appearance of pavements placed close together. The principal interior organs of hearing were curious in the extreme; the bones resembled shells.



Near the throat a valve of extraordinary structure was discovered, which, I regret, was much injured by the unskilful hands of a harpooner: it is not improbable that this beautiful valve was a connecting part of that noble economy of nature for forcing the air through the blow-holes, in the upper surface of the head. The fins were exquisitely adapted to their purpose; underneath the skin, the bones were formed and placed like those of a man's hand, with the fingers expanded: these bones had joints connected by strong sinews, which rendered them so