94 THE WHALEMAN'S ADVENTURES. 



In corporal sufferance feels a pang as great 

 As when a giant dies ;" 



yet I am not one that can coolly observe the 

 last agony of so mighty an organized creature 

 as the whale, with as little emotion as some 

 persons feel at the crushing of a reptile or the 

 writhing of a worm ; nor do I believe that the 

 suffering in the one case is as great as that in 

 the other. But it is painful enough to see any- 

 thing forcibly bereft of the boon of life, the gift 

 of Him that made us all, 



" Who gives its lustre to the insect's wing, 

 And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds." 



Cowper's principle in regard to animals and 

 insects is the right one : 



" The sum is this : if man's convenience, health, 

 Or safety interfere, his rights and claims 

 Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs. 

 Else they are all the meanest things that are 

 As free to live, and to enjoy that life, 

 As God was free to form them at the first, 

 Who in His sovereign wisdom made them all." 



The substance called ambergris, and highly 

 prized in perfumery, is obtained from the sperm 

 whale, being formed, it is thought, in that state 



