124 THE WHALE. 



Its sense of seeing is acute, whales are observed 

 to discover one another in clear water, when under 

 the surface, at an amazing distance. When at the 

 surface, however, they do not see far. 



They have no voice; but in breathing or blowing, 

 they make a very loud noise. The vapour they 

 discharge is ejected to the height of some yards, 

 and appears at a distance, like a puff of smoke. 

 When the animals are wounded, it is often stained 

 with blood; and, on the approach of death, jets of 

 blood are sometimes discharged alone. They blow 

 strongest, densest, and loudest, when '* running." 

 When in a state of alarm, or when they first ap- 

 pear at the surface, after being a long time down, 

 they respire or blow about four or five times a 

 minute. 



The whale being somewhat lighter than the me- 

 dium in which it swims, can remain at the surface 

 of the sea, with its 4 f crown," in which the blow- 

 holes are situated, and a considerable extent of the 

 back, above water, without any effort or motion. 

 To descend, however, requires an exertion. The 

 proportion of the whale that appears above water, 

 when alive, or when recently killed, is probably 

 not a twentieth part of the animal; but within a day 

 after death, when the process of putrefaction com- 

 mences, the whale swells to an enormous size, until 

 at least a third of the carcass appears above water, 

 and sometimes the body is burst by the force of air 

 generated within. 



