book i. (folio), chapter ii. (right whale).—in one respect this is the most venerable of the leviathans, being the one first regularly hunted by man. it yields the article commonly known as whalebone or baleen; and the oil specially known as "whale oil," an inferior article in commerce. among the fishermen, he is indiscriminately designated by all the following titles: the whale; the greenland whale; the black whale; the great whale; the true whale; the right whale. there is a deal of obscurity concerning the identity of the species thus multitudinously baptised. what then is the whale, which i include in the second species of my folios? it is the great mysticetus of the english naturalists; the greenland whale of the english whalemen; the baleine ordinaire of the french whalemen; the growlands walfish of the swedes. it is the whale which for more than two centuries past has been hunted by the dutch and english in the arctic seas; it is the whale which the american fishermen have long pursued in the indian ocean, on the brazil banks, on the nor’ west coast, and various other parts of the world, designated by them right whale cruising grounds.