112 GREAT WHALE. 



tail, are generally considered to be shy and timid. Such, 

 however, is the strength of the tail, that a single blow 

 from it would inevitably sink even a large boat. It is by 

 means of this member only that they urge themselves 

 forward in the water. They subsist, principally, on the 

 smaller kinds of fish, which swim in shoals, and on other 

 small marine animals. From the spiracles on the top oi 

 its head, this whale sometimes spouts water to a prodigious 

 height and distance, and with a noise which somewhat 

 resembles the rushing of a cataract. The females produce 

 only a single young one each. This they suckle for about 

 twelve months. It is said that the attachment of the 

 male and female to each other exceeds that of most other 

 animals. 



So valuable are the different parts of the body of the 

 Whales, in a commercial view, that large vessels are 

 annually fitted out, even from this country, in pursuit of 

 them. Betwixt their skin and flesh they are surrounded 

 with a vast layer of fat, or blubber, the utility of which 

 to the animals consists, no doubt, in preserving the heat 

 of their body, notwithstanding the coldness of the ele- 

 ment and climate which they inhabit. When one of 

 these animals is observed from a ship, the boats are 

 manned and immediately sent out, for the purpose of 

 killing it. This is done by means of harpoons, to 

 which long cords are affixed. The Whale no sooner 

 feels that he is wounded, than he plunges down into the 

 deep, carrying along with him the fatal weapon. When 

 he returns to the surface to breathe, the harpooners 

 inflict fresh wounds, until at length he faints from loss 

 of blood, on which a long spear is thrust into his breast, 

 which terminates his existence. The next process is to 

 lash, or tie him to the ship's side, for the purpose of 

 cutting him up, extracting the blubber, and taking out the 



