20 THE NATURALIST IN BERMUDA. 
and kill them; for I could never hear of any of that sort 
that were killed by any man, such is their fierceness and 
swiftness. One such whale would be worth many hundred 
pounds. They are very strong, and inlayed with sinews 
which may be drawn out thirty fathom long.” 
Perhaps it may be interesting to some of our readers, if 
we insert here the particulars of a “whale case,” which was 
tried at the Bermuda assizes, in the autumn of 1857. It 
was obligingly communicated by a gentleman, who’ has 
kindly assisted us with information for this little volume :— 
“Kach company of whalers has two or more boats. One of 
these companies had the good luck during the last season 
to fall in with a valuable Cape whale, which yielded about 
£200 worth of oil. The boat which first struck it was 
split; her companion was soon at hand, and struck into it 
also, cutting away, of course, the first tine; that boat, also, 
was injured, and, by some singular chance, the whale, with 
the boat fast to it, found its way into Castle Harbour. 
Either from fear or mis-management, the crew did not pull 
up to the fish to lance it, the whale running about to and 
fro, and (as they term it), ‘feeling for the boat’ After 
being fast an hour, or longer, a small boat put off from the 
shore; belonging to another Company; the harpooner pulled 
a lance from the ‘fast’ boat, and went alongside the finny 
monster, and plunged the lance once or twice right into a 
vital part, and killed the whale. He claimed allowance for 
‘work and labour, which was inhumanly denied him; a 
law-suit was the consequence, and the jury awarded him 
fifty pounds.” 
The domestic animals of the Bermudas are cattle, horses, 
mules, donkeys, sheep, goats, pigs, dogs, rabbits, and cats. 
