BOOK III. 



INHABITANTS OF THE WATER 



I. Cetacea, or Sea Mammalia. 



THE COMMON, OE GKEENLAND WHALE. 



(JBalmna mysticetus.} 



" Nature's strange work, vast Whales of different form, 

 Toss up the troubled flood, and arc themselves a storm ; 

 Uncouth the sight, when they in dreadful play, 

 Discharge their nostrils, and refund a sea ; 

 Or angry lash the foam with hideous sound, 

 And scatter all the watery dust around ; 

 Fearless, the fierce destructive monsters roll, 

 Ingulf the fish, and drive the flying shoal ; 

 In deepest seas these living isles appear, 

 And deepest seas can scarce their pressure bear ; 

 Their bulk would more than fill the shelvy strait, 

 And fathom'd depths would yield beneath their weight." 



THE WHALE is not properly a fish ; since, though it lives 



2D 



