SPERM WHALE DYING. 93 



a remarkable appearance, which seems to be 

 that which attracts his prey. When a sufficient 

 number of other fish, or quantity of the squid, 

 as the case may be, are within the mouth, he 

 rapidly closes his jaw and swallows the contents. 

 When this creature is fatally struck or killed 

 while in the act of feeding, the whalemen will 

 soon know the items of its last bill of fare ; for, 

 while the waters around are purpled with its 

 gore, and a crimson tide is flowing from its spi- 

 racles, portions of its lance-lacerated lungs, and 

 the contents of its capacious stomach also, are 

 being vomited at the mouth. The sea, too, 

 will be lashed by its mighty tail with a sound 

 that may be heard in calm weather, for some 

 miles distance. 



It is painful to witness the death-agony of 



' 



any creature, even the smallest that God has 

 given life to, much more that of one in which 

 life is so lively and tenacious, and animating so 

 vast a bulk. And though it might be true what 

 the dramatic poet said, 



" The sense of death is most in apprehension, 

 And the poor beetle that we tread upon, 



