400 MAMMALIA— WHALE. 



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 prin- 

 cipally found. They are guarded by eyelids and eyelashes, as in quadru- 

 peds ; 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, ani 

 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- 



