harpoons, four lances, and a crew of six men, proceed in pursuit, and, if possible, each boat strikes or "fastens to," a distinct animal, and each crew kills their own. When engaged in distant pursuit, the harpooner generally steers the boat, and in such cases the proper boat steerer occasionally strikes, but the harpooner mostly kills it. If one cachalot of a herd is struck, it commonly takes the lead and is followed by the rest. The one which is struck, seldom descends far under water, but generally swims off with great rapidity, stopping after a short course, so that the boat can be drawn up to it by the line, or be rowed sufficiently near to lance it. In the agonies of death, the struggles of the animal are truly tremendous, and the surface of the ocean is lashed into foam by the motions of the fins and tail. Tall jets of blood are discharged from the blow-holes, which show that the wounds have taken mortal effect, and seeing this, the boats are kept aloof, lest they should be dashed to pieces by the violent efforts of the victim. When a herd is attacked in this way, ten or twelve of the number are killed. Those which are only wounded are rarely captured. After the cachalot is killed, the boats tow it to the side of the ship, and if the weather be fine, and other objects of chase in view, they are again sent to the attack. About three tons of oil are commonly obtained from a large cachalot; from one to two tons are procured from a small one. A cargo, produced from one hundred cachalots, may be from one hundred and fifty to two hundred tons of oil, besides the spermaceti, &c. THE SMALL EYED, OR BLACK SPERMACETI WHALE,1 HEADED Is one of the most formidable monsters of the deep. It has an enormous dark colored head, armed with twenty-one projecting teeth on each side of the jaw. In a full grown specimen, these teeth are nine inches in length. This whale is often more than fifty feet in length, and is uncommonly active. Sharks, dolphins, and porpoises fall an easy prey to it. THE COMMON WHALE 2 Is the largest of all animals, being sometimes one hundred feet in length. It is commonly met with from sixty to seventy feet. The head makes a 1 Physeter microps, LACEP. 2 Balana mysticetus, LIN. The genus Balana has no teeth; upper jaw keel-formed, furnished on each side with whalebone, or transverse horny lamina, slender, serrated, and attenuated at the edges; orifices of the spiracles separated, and placed towards the middle of the upper part of the head; a dorsal fin in some species; nodosities on the back in others. third of its bulk. The fins on each side are from five to eight feet, composed of bones and muscles, and sufficiently strong to give speed and activity to the great mass of body which they move. The tail is about twenty-four feet broad; and, when the fish lies on one side, its blow is tremendous. It is a curious piece of mechanism, consisting of two lobes wholly made up of strong, tendinous fibres, connected with the major part of the muscular structure of the body. Of those fibres there are three distinct layers, of which the two external are in the direction of the lobes, and the internal in an opposite direction. This structure renders the tail of the whale one of the most flexible of animal organs. It can move all ways with equal ease; every part has its own individual motion. The skin is smooth and black, and in some places marbled with white and yellow; which, running over the surface, has a very beautiful effect. The outward, or scarf skin of the whale, is no thicker than parchment; but this removed, the real skin appears, of about an inch thick, and covering the fat or blubber that lies beneath. This is from eight to twelve inches in thickness; and is, when the fish is in health, of a beautiful yellow. The muscles lie beneath; and these, like the flesh of quadrupeds, are very red and tough. The cleft of the mouth is above twenty feet long, which is near one third of the animal's whole length; and the upper jaw is furnished with barbs, that lie, like the pipes of an organ, the greatest in the middle, and the smallest on the sides. These compose the whalebone, absurdly called fins, the longest spars of which are found to be not less than eighteen feet. The tongue is almost immoveably fixed to the lower jaw, seeming one great lump of fat; and, in fact, it fills several hogsheads with blubber. The eyes are not larger than those of an ox; and when the crystalline humor is dried, it does not appear larger than a pea. They are placed towards the back of the head, being the most convenient situation for enabling them to see both before and behind; as also to see over them, where their food is principally found. They are guarded by eyelids and eyelashes, as in quadrupeds; and they seem to be very sharp-sighted. Nor is their sense of hearing in less perfection; for they are warned, at great distances, of any danger preparing against them. We have already observed, that the substance, called whalebone, is taken from the upper jaw of the animal, and is very different from the real bones of the whale. The real bones are hard, like those of great land animals, are very porous, and filled with marrow. Two great, strong bones sustain the under lip, lying against each other in the shape of a half-moon; some of these are twenty feet long. They are often seen in gardens, set up against each other, and are usually mistaken for the ribs. The fidelity of these animals to each other, exceeds whatever we are told of even the constancy of birds. Some fishers, as Anderson informs us, having struck one of two whales, a male and a female, that were in com pany together, the wounded fish made a long and terrible resistance; it struck down a boat with three men in it, with a single blow of the tail, by which all went to the bottom. The other still attended its companion, and lent it every assistance; till, at last, the fish that was struck sunk under the number of its wounds: while its faithful associate, disdaining to survive the loss, with great bellowing, stretched itself upon the dead fish, and shared his fate. The whale goes with young nine or ten months, and is then fatter than usual, particularly when near the time of bringing forth. The young ones continue at the breast for a year; during which time they are called by the sailors, short heads. They are then extremely fat, and yield above fifty barrels of blubber. The mother, at the same time, is equally lean and emaciated. At the age of two years, they are called stunts, as they do not thrive much immediately after quitting the breast; they then yield scarce above twenty or twenty-four barrels of blubber. From that time forward they are called skull fish, and their age is wholly unknown. The food of the whale, is a small insect, which is seen floating in those seas, and which Linnæus terms the medusa. These insects are black, and of the size of a small bean, and are sometimes seen floating in clusters on the surface of the water. They are of a round form, like snails in a box, but they have wings, which are so tender that it is scarce possible to touch them without breaking. These, however, serve rather for swimming than flying. They have the taste of raw muscles, and have the smell of burnt sugar. Inoffensive as the whale is, it is not without enemies. There is a small animal, of the shell-fish kind, called the whale louse, that sticks to its body, as we see shells sticking to the foul bottom of a ship. This insinuates itself chiefly under the fins; and whatever efforts the great animal makes, it still keeps its hold, and lives upon the fat, which it is provided with instruments to arrive at. The sword-fish, however, is the whale's most terrible enemy. "At the sight of this little animal," says Anderson, "the whale seems agitated in an extraordinary manner, leaping from the water as if with affright; wherever it appears, the whale perceives it at a distance, and flies from it in the opposite direction. I have been myself, a spectator of their terrible encounter. The whale has no instrument of defence except the tail; with that it endeavors to strike the enemy; and a single blow taking place, would effectually destroy its adversary. But the sword-fish is as active as the other is strong, and easily avoids the stroke; then bounding into the air, it falls upon its enemy, and endeavors not to pierce with its pointed beak, but to cut with its toothed edges. The sea all about is soon dyed with blood, proceeding from the wounds of the whale; while the enormous animal vainly endeavors to reach its invader, and strikes with its tail against the surface of the water, making a report at each blow louder than the noise of a cannon." There is still another and more powerful enemy, called by the fishermen of New England, the killer. This is itself supposed to be a cetaceous animal, armed with strong and powerful teeth. A number of these are said to surround the whale, in the same manner as dogs get round a bull. Some attack it with their teeth, behind; others attempt it before; until, at last, the great animal is torn down; and its tongue is said to be the only part they devour when they have made it their prey. They are said to be of such great strength, that one of them alone was known to stop a dead whale, that several boats were towing along, and drag it from among them to the bottom. But of all the enemies of these enormous fishes, man is the greatest; he alone, destroys more in a year, than the rest in an age, and actually has thinned their number in that part of the world where they are chiefly sought. At the first discovery of Greenland, whales not being used to be disturbed, frequently came into the very bays, and were accordingly killed almost close to the shore; so that the blubber being cut off was immediately boiled into oil on the spot. The ships in those times, took in nothing but the pure oil and the whalebone, and all the business was executed in the country; by which means, a ship could bring home the product of many more whales, than she can, according to the present method of conducting this trade. The fishery also was then so plentiful, that they were obliged sometimes to send other ships to fetch off the oil they had made, the quantity being more than the fishing ships could bring away. But time and change of circumstances, have shifted the situation of this trade. The ships coming in such numbers from Holland, Denmark, Hamburg, and other northern countries, all intruders upon the English, who were the first discoverers of Greenland, the whales were disturbed, and gradually, as other fish often do, forsaking the place, were not to be killed so near the shore as before; but are now found, and have been so ever since, in the openings and space among the ice, where they have deep water, and where they go sometimes a great many leagues from the shore. The whale fishery begins in May, and continues all June and July; but whether the ships have good or bad success, they must come away, and get clear of the ice, by the end of August; so that in the month of September, at farthest, they may be expected home. But a ship that meets with a ⚫ fortunate and early fishery in May, may return in June or July. The manner of taking the Greenland whales is as follows:-Every ship is provided with six boats, to each of which belongs six men for rowing the boat, and a harpooner, whose business it is to strike the whale with his harpoon. Two of these boats are kept constantly on the watch, at some distance from the ship, fastened to pieces of ice, and are relieved by others every four hours. As soon as a whale is perceived, both the boats set out in pursuit of it, and if either of them can come up before the whale finally descends, which is known by his throwing up his tail, the harpooner dis charges his harpoon at him. There is no difficulty in choosing the place where the whale is to be struck, as some have asserted; for these creatures only come up to the surface in order to spout up the water, or blow, as the fishermen term it, and therefore always keep the soft and vulnerable part of their bodies above water. As soon as the whale is struck, the men set up one of their oars in the middle of the boat, as a signal to those in the ship. On perceiving this, the watchman alarms all the rest, with the cry of fall! fall! upon which all the other boats are immediately sent out to the assistance of the first. The whale finding himself wounded, runs off with prodigious violence. Sometimes he descends perpendicularly; at others goes off horizontally at a small depth below the surface. The rope which is fastened to the harpoon is about two hundred fathoms long, and properly coiled up, that it may be freely given out as there is a demand for it. At first, the velocity with which this line runs over the side of the boat is so great, that it is wetted to prevent its taking fire; but in a short time the strength of the whale begins to fail, and the fishermen, instead of letting out more rope, strive as much as possible to pull back what is given out already, though they always find themselves necessitated to yield at last to the efforts of the animal, to prevent his sinking their boat. If he runs out the two hundred fathoms of line contained in one boat, that belonging to another is immediately fastened to the end of the first, and so on; and there have been instances, where all the rope belonging to the six boats has been necessary, though half that quantity is seldom required. The whale cannot stay long below water, but again comes up to blow; and being now much fatigued and wounded, stays longer above water than usual. This gives another boat time to come up with him, and he is again struck with a harpoon. He |