THE GREAT RORQUAL. 365 



THE INDIAN RORQUAL. 



The Great Indian Rorqual, Pliysalus Indicus, was seen by Near- 

 chus, who commanded the Indian fleet of Alexander the Great, B. c. 327. 



Arrian informs us that when, in the morning, Nearchus was off Kyiza 

 or Guttar, his people were surprised by observing the sea thrown up to 

 a great height in the air, as if it were carried up by a whirlwind. The 

 people were alarmed, and inquired of their pilot what might be the 

 cause of the phenomenon ; he informed them that it proceeded from the 

 blowing of the whale, and that it was the practice of the creature as he 

 sported in the sea. His report by no means quieted their alarm ; they 

 stopped rowing from astonishment, and the oars fell from their hands. 

 Nearchus encouraged them, and recalled them to their duty, ordering 

 the heads of the vessels to be pointed at the several creatures as they 

 approached, and to attack them as they would the vessels of an enemy 

 in battle : the fleet immediately formed as if going to engage, and 

 advanced by a signal given; when, shouting altogether, and dashing 

 the water with their oars, with the trumpets sounding at the same 

 time, they had the satisfaction to see the enemy give way ; for upon tht 

 approach of the vessels, the monsters ahead sunk before them, and ros« 

 again astern, where they continued their blowing without exciting any 

 further alarm. All the credit of the victory fell to the share of Nearchvs, 

 and the acclamations of the people expressed their acknowledgment, bf;th 

 to his judgment and fortitude, employed in their unexpected deliver}-. 



The great Indian Rorqual is, indeed, very common still in th'.^ seas 

 where it was observed by Nearchus and his companions, off the coasts 

 of Arabia and of Mekran, Sindh, the peninsula of Cutch, a:id again 

 further southward, off the Malabar coast. One cast up dead upon Am- 

 herst Islet, near Ramri Island, on the Arakan coast, in the Bay of Bengal, 

 during the rainy season of 1851, measured eighty-four feet in length, of 

 which the rami of the lower jaw were twenty-one feet, or exactly one 

 quarter of the total length. Another, stated to be ninety feet long, and 

 about forty-two feet in circumference, was cast upon the Chittagong 

 coast in 1842, in about lat. 21° N. It appears that early on the 15th 

 August, the attention of the inhabitants of that coast were attracted by 

 something in appearance like the capsized hull of a large vessel, floating 

 on the surface of the sea, and coming towards the mouth of the Muskal 



