)G2 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



of other food, having no teeth to 

 chew it with, so that this sort of 

 nourishment suits them best, their 

 mouth being large and wide 

 to receive a great quantity, by 

 opening it and shutting it again, 

 that nature has provided them 

 with the barders or whalebones, 

 which by their closeness only 

 give passage to the water, like a 

 sieve, keeping back the aliment. 

 Here we ought to praise the wise 

 and kind providence of an 

 Almighty Creator, who has made 

 such mean things suffice for the 

 maintenance of so vast an animal. 



Next to this there is another 

 sort of whales, called the North 

 Capers, from the place of their 

 abode, which is about the North 

 Cape of Norway, though they 

 also frequent the coasts of Ice- 

 land, Greenland, and sundry 

 other seas, going in search of 

 their prey, which is herring and 

 other small fish, that resort in 

 abundance to those coasts. It 

 has been observed, that some of 

 these North Cape whales have 

 had more than a tun of herrings 

 in their belly. This kind of 

 whales has this common with the 

 former called fin-whale, in that it 

 is very swift and quick in its 

 motion, and keeps off from the 

 shore in the main sea, as fearing 

 to become a prey to its enemies, 

 if it should venture too near the 

 shore. His fat is tougher and 

 harder than that of the great 

 bay whale ; neither are his baV- 

 ders or bones so long and 

 valuable, for which reason he is 

 neglected. 



The fourth sort is the sword- 

 fish, so called from a long and 

 broad bone, which grows out of 

 the end of his snout on both sides, 



indented Hke a saw. He has got 

 two fins upon his back, and four 

 under the belly, on each side 

 two ; those on the back are the 

 largest: those under the belly 

 are placed just under the first of 

 the back : his tail broad and flat 

 underneath, and above pointed, 

 but not split or cloved. From 

 the hindermost fin of the back he 

 grows smaller : his nostrils are 

 of an oblong shape: the eyes are 

 placed on the top of his head, 

 just above his mouth. There are 

 different sizes of sword-fish, some 

 of twenty feet, some more, some 

 less. This is the greatest enemy 

 the true whale has to deal with, 

 who gives him fierce battles ; 

 and, having vanquished and killed 

 him, he contents himself with 

 eating the tongue of the whale, 

 leaving the rest of the huge car- 

 case for the prey and spoils of 

 the morses and sea birds. 



The cachelot or pot-fish is a 

 fifth species of whales, whose 

 shape is somewhat different from 

 that of other whales, in that the 

 upper part of his head or skull is Ji 

 much bigger and stronger built ; \\ 

 his spouts or pipes are placed on 

 the forehead, whereas other 

 whales have them on the hinder 

 part of the head : his under jaw 

 is armed with a row of teeth 

 which are but short : his tongue 

 is thin and pointed, and of a yel- 

 lowish colour : he has but one 

 eye on the side of the head, 

 which makes him of easy access 

 to the Greenlanders, who attack 

 him on his blind side. Of his 

 skull that wrongly so called 

 spermaceti is prepared, one 

 yielding twenty to twenty-four 

 tuns thereof. The rest of the body 

 and the tail are like unto those 



of 



