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A HISTORY OF 



CHAPTER CXXXVIII. 



OF THE WHALE PROPERLY SO CALLED, AND ITS VARIETIES. 



IF we compare land animals, in respect to 

 magnitude, with those of the deep, they will 

 appear contemptible in the competition. It is 

 probable, indeed, that quadrupeds once exist- 

 ed much larger than we find them at present. 

 From the skeletons of some that have been 

 dug up at different times, it is evident, that 

 there must have been terrestrial animals twice 

 as large as the elephant ; but creatures of such 

 an immense bulk required a proportionable 

 extent of ground for subsistence, and, by being 

 rivals with men for large territory, they must 

 have been destroyed in the contest. 



But it is not only upon land that man has 

 exerted his power of destroying the larger 

 tribes of animated nature, he has extended his 

 efforts even into the midst of the ocean, and 

 has cut off numbers of those enormous ani- 

 mals that had perhaps existed for ages. We 

 now no longer hear of whales f.vo hundred, 

 and two hundred and fifty feet long, which 

 we are certain were often seen about two 

 centuries ago. They have all been destroyed 

 by the skill of mankind, and the species is 

 now dwindled into a race of diminutive ani- 

 mals, from thirty to about eighty feet long. 



The northern seas were once the region to 

 which the greatest of these animals resorted; 

 but so great has been the slaughter of whales 

 for more than two ages, that they begin to 

 grow thinner every day ; and those that are 

 now found there, seem, from their size, not to 

 come to their full dimensions. The greatest 

 whales resort to places where they have the 

 least disturbance ; to those seas that are on 

 the opposite side of the globe, near the south 

 pole. In that part of the world, there are 

 still to be seen whales that are above a hun- 

 dred and sixty feet long ; and perhaps even 

 longer might be found in those latitudes near 

 the south polo, to which we have not as yet 

 ventured. 



Taking the whale, however, at the ordinary 

 size of eighty feet long and twenty feet high, 

 what an enormous animated mass must it ap- 



pear to the spectator ! With what amaze- 

 ment must it strike him, to behold so great a- 

 creature gamboling in the deep, with the ease 

 and agility 01 the smallest animal, and making 

 its way with incredible swiftness ! This is 

 a sight which is very common to those who 

 frequent the northern or southern ocean. Yet 

 though this be wonderful, perhaps still greater 

 wonders are concealed in the deep, which 

 we have not had opportunities of exploring. 

 These large animals are obliged to show them- 

 selves in order to take breath ; but who knows 

 the size of those that are fitted to remain for 

 ever under water, and that have been increas- 

 ing in magnitude for centuries ! To believe 

 all that has been said of the Sea-Serpent, or 

 the Kraken, would be credulity ; to reject 

 the possibility of their existence, would be 

 presumption. 



The Whale is :he largest animal of which 

 we have any certain information ; and the 

 various purposes to which, when taken, its 

 different parts are converted, have brought us 

 tolerably acquainted with its history. Of the 

 whale, properly so called, there are no less 

 than seven different kinds ; all distinguished 

 from each other by their external figure, or 

 internal conformation. The Great Greenland 

 Whale, without a back-fin, and black on the 

 back ; the Iceland Whale, vv ithout a back-fin, 

 and whitish on he back ; the New-England 

 Whale, with a hump on the back ; the Whale, 

 with six humps on the back ; the Fin-fish, 

 with a fin on the back near the tail; the Pike- 

 headed Whale, and the Round-rlipped Whale. 

 All these differ from each other in figure, as 

 their names obviously imply. They differ 

 also somewhat in their manner of living ; the 

 fin-fish having a larger swallow than the rest, 

 being more active, slender, and fierce, and 

 living chiefly upon herrings. However, there 

 are none of them very voracious ; and, if 

 compared to the cachalot, tlmi enormous tyrant 

 of the deep, they appear harmless and gentle. 

 The history of the rest, therefore, may be 



