252 LAWSON'S HISTORY 



whale, from which the sperma coeti is taken. These 

 are rich prizes; but I never heard but of one 

 found on this coast, which was near Currituck in- 

 let. 



The other sorts are of a prodigious bigness. Of 

 these the bone and oil is made. The oil being the 

 blubber, or oily flesh, or fat of that fish boiled. 

 These differ not only in color, some being pied, 

 others not, but very much in shape, one being called 

 a bottle nosed whale, the other a shovel nose, 

 which is as different as a salmon from a sturgeon. 

 These fish seldom come ashore with their tongues 

 in their heads, the Thrasher (which is the whales 

 mortal enemy, wheresoever he meets him) eating 

 that out of his head, as soon as he and the sword- 

 fish have killed him, for when the whalecatchers 

 (in other parts) kill any of these fish, they eat the 

 tongue, and esteem it an excellent dish. 



There is another sort of these whales, or great 

 fish, though not common. I never knew of above 

 one of that sort, found on the coast of North Car- 

 olina, and he was contrary, in shape, to all others 

 ever found before him ; being sixty feet in length, 

 and not above three or four feet diameter. Some 

 Indians in America will go out to sea, and get 

 upon a whale's back, and peg or plug up his spouts, 

 and so kill him. 



The Thrashers are large fish, and mortal en- 

 emies to the whale, as I said before. They make 

 good oil, but are seldom found. 



