THE WHALE. 99 



by resorting to comparisons scarcely less inade- 

 quate, or conveying at best but vague and unsatis- 

 factory ideas. The sublime in magnitude among 

 organized and animated beings, the whale is 

 adapted in all his attributes to the fathomless and 

 illimitable waters he is destined to inhabit: con- 

 trasted with other animals, his strength as far tran- 

 scends their greatest exertions, as the irresistible 

 heavings of the mighty deep exceed the harmless 

 rippling of a sylvan stream. It is only by successive 

 approaches and detailed examination, that we can 

 arrive at a proper conception of this animal, and, 

 therefore, the statements which are freest from at- 

 tempts to emulate by ambitious style the magnitude 

 of the subject, will lead us to the most satisfactory 

 conclusions. 



Having never personally enjoyed opportunities 

 of studying the whale in his native floods, and hav- 

 ing derived all that we know in relation thereto, from 

 Scoresby, we should deem it injustice to the reader 

 to give this account in any other language than that 

 of the original. We do this without reluctance, as 

 our object is to convey the most accurate know- 

 ledge, rather than to produce a work exclusively 

 of our own composition, and because we believe 

 that where an original observer is competent to ex- 

 press what he has seen, his remarks must have a 

 force and value far greater than can be imparted by 

 another, however great may be his command of 

 language, or his felicity of expression. All that 



