"Terrified at this alarming account, sister Liebisch called in the rest of the family, and the Esquimaux was examined as to his meaning; but his answers were little less obscure. He seemed so certain of the destruction of the missionaries, that he was with difficulty prevailed on to wait some time for their return. He could not believe that they could have escaped the effects of so furious a tempest, considering the course they were taking. "It may easily be conceived, with what gratitude to God the whole family at Nain bid them welcome. During the storm, they had considered with some dread, what might be the fate of their brethren, though at Nain its violence was not felt so much as on a coast, unprotected by any islands. Added to this, the hints of the Esquimaux had considerably increased their apprehensions for their safety, and their fears began to get the better of their hopes. All therefore joined most fervently in praise and thanksgiving to God, for this signal deliverance." CHAPTER IV. THE WHALE. It seems strange that the largest animal in nature should live in these regions, where you would think everything must be starved by the cold. But so it is, and it should lead you to reflect, how wonderfully the principle which animates living beings, by the outward form and constitution which it gives to the bodies of animals, adapts them to support the various circumstances in which they are placed. There are many kinds of whale which all agree in these particulars. They are very much larger than any other creatures existing; they live in the sea and yet suckle their young with milk, and have warm blood and lungs like land animals, so that they can only breathe by putting their heads above water. Some people have doubted whether it was proper to call the whale a fish, but on the whole it is certainly more like fishes than it is like any other of the great divisions of animals, seeing that it swims with fins, and cannot live out of the water. [Illustration] The Greenland whale (naturalists call it _Balena Mysticetus_,) is the most important of the varieties, as it is the one which produces train oil in the largest quantities, and whalebone. In common with all the others, it is a most awkward looking creature. Here is a picture of one. Its usual length is from 40 to 60 feet; and the circumference of its body about 40. It not unfrequently weighs 60 or 70 tons, which is more than the weight of 180 fat oxen. The tail is commonly about 6 feet long, and 25 feet wide. It lies flat upon the water, and is what the creature principally uses in swimming, for the fins near the head appear to be used merely to keep the body steady in the water. It is also a weapon of defence, and possesses prodigious strength, as you shall hear by and by. The inside of the mouth is, perhaps, the most wonderful part of the whale, both from its size and construction. I was once in one, which was 15 feet in length and 7 feet wide.