FOOD OF THE WHALE. 49 



the hair that fringes the leaves of whalebone, ay 

 the whale swims along with mouth open. It is, 

 in fact, a little red shrimp, sometimes seen float- 

 ing on the surface in these seas alive, oftener 

 dead, when it has the appearance at a distance 

 of patches or clots of blood, only yellower. I 

 have seen it in both states, when entangled in 

 the hair of dead whales. The quantity neces- 

 sary for the animal's support must be prodigeous. 



I can doubly appreciate now that amusing 

 passage in the Holy War, where Bunyan says, 

 " Silly Mansoul did not stick nor boggle at a 

 monstrous oath that she would not desert Di'a- 

 bolus, but swallowed it without chewing, as if 

 it had been a sprat in the mouth of a whale." 

 This " feed " is supposed to He generally rather 

 deep under water in these southern seas, as 

 whales are often taken in greatest numbers 

 where none of it is to be seen on the surface. 



A volume of the Family Library, on " Polar 

 Seas and Regions," which I read with great 

 interest on ship board, says, that the basis of 

 subsistence for the numerous tribes of the 

 Arctic world is found in the genus medusa, 



E 



