NATURAL HISTORY. 



97 



and ship are separated, neither having any means of knowing 

 where the other lies, for sound is much impeded by fog, and 

 even cannon are not heard when fired comparatively close. 



The Whale shows great attachment to its young, which is 

 called the cub, and on the approach of danger, seizes it with 

 its fin or flipper, and carries it dow r n out of danger. The Whale 

 has no fins, properly so called, as it is not a fish. Its flippers, 

 which supply the place of fins, are in fact fore-legs, furnished 

 with a kind of hand covered with a thick skin. They seem 

 to be principally employed in balancing the animal. The 

 hind-legs are concealed under the skin, as are those of the 

 boa constrictor. The length of this Whale averages sixty feet. 

 Its tail is placed transversely, and not vertically, as in the 

 fishes. 



FLIPPER OF THE WHALE. 



THE CACHALOT. 



The chase of the CACHALOT is similar to that of the 

 Greenland whale, and need not be described. It is attended 

 with more danger, as the terrific row of teeth with which 

 the lower jaw of the Cachalot is armed, is not unfrequently 

 employed in biting the boat. In the Ashmolean Museum at 

 Oxford is an under jaw-bone of this whale, sixteen and a half 

 feet in length, containing forty-eight huge teeth. Besides 

 this method of defence, it has a very unpleasant habit of 



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