CETACEOUS FISHES. 



617 



comprised under that of the Great Common 

 Greenland Whale, with which we are best 

 acquainted. 



The Great Greenland Whale is the fish, 

 for taking which there arc such preparations 

 made in different parts of Europe. It is a 

 large heavy animal, and the head alone makes 

 a third of its bulk. It is usually found from 

 sixty to seventy feet long. The fins on each 

 side are from five to eight feet, composed of 

 bones and muscles, and sufficiently strong to 

 give the great mass of body which they move, 

 speed and activity. The tail, which lies flat 

 on the water, is about twenty-four feet broad ; 

 and, when the fish lies on one side, its blow is 

 tremendous. The skin is smooth and black, 

 and, in some places, marbled with white and 

 yellow; which, running over the surface, has 

 a very beautiful effect. This marbling is par- 

 ticularly observable in the fins and the tail. 

 In the figures which are thus drawn by nature, 

 fancy often forms the pictures of trees, land- 

 scapes, and houses. In the tail of one that 

 was thus marbled, Ray tells us, that the num- 

 ber 122 was figured very evenly and exactly, 

 as if done with a pencil. 



The whale makes use only of the tail to 

 advance itself forward in the water. This 

 serves as a great oar to push its mass along ; 

 and it is surprising to see with what force 

 and celerity its enormous bulk cuts through 

 the ocean. The fins are only made use of for 

 turning in the water, and giving a direction 

 to the velocity impressed by the tail. The 

 female also makes use of them when pursued, 

 to bear off her young, clapping them on her 

 back, and supporting them by the fins on each 

 side from falling. 



The outward or scarf skin of the whale is 

 no thicker than parchment ; but this removed, 

 the real skin appears, of about an inch thick, 

 and covering the fat or blubber that lies be- 

 neath ; this is from eight to twelve inches in 

 thickness ; and is, when the fish is in health, 

 of a beautiful yellow. The muscles lie be- 

 neath ; and these, like the flesh of quadrupeds, 

 are very red and tough. 



The cleft of the mouth is above twenty feet 

 long, which is near one-third of the animal's 

 whole length ; and the upper jaw is furnished 

 with barbs, that lie like the pipes of an organ, 

 the greatest in the middle, and the smallest to 

 the sides. These compose the whalebone ; 



the longest spars of which are found to be not 

 less than eighteen feet ; the shortest, being of 

 no value, are thrown away. The tongue is 

 almost immoveably fixed to the lower jaw, 

 seeming one great lump of fat ; and, in fact, 

 it fills several hogsheads with blubber. The 

 eyes are not larger than those of an ox ; and 

 when the crystalline humour is dried, it does 

 not appear larger than a pea. They are 

 placed towards the back of the head, being 

 the most convenient situation for enabling 

 them to see both before and behind ; as also 

 to see over them, where their food is princi- 

 pally found. They are guarded by eye-lids 

 and eye-lashes, as in quadrupeds; and they 

 seem to be very sharp-sighted. 



Nor is their sense of hearing in less perfec- 

 tion ; for they are warned at great distances, 

 of any danger preparing against them. It 

 would seem as if nature had designedly given 

 them these advantages, as they multiply little, 

 in order to continue their kind. It is true, 

 indeed, that the external organ of hearing is 

 not perceptible, for this might only embarrass 

 them in their natural element : but as soon as 

 the thin scarf-skin above mentioned is remov- 

 ed, a black spot is discovered behind the eye, 

 and under that is the auditory canal, that leads 

 to a regular apparatus for hearing. In short, 

 the animal hears the smallest sounds at very 

 great distances, and at all times, except when 

 it is spouting water ; which is the time that 

 the fishers approach to strike it. 



These spout-holes or nostrils, in all the 

 cetaceous tribe, have been already described : 

 in this whale there are two, one on each side 

 the head before the eyes, and crooked, some- 

 what like the holes on the belly of a violin. 

 From these holes this animal blows the water 

 very fiercely, and with such a noise, that it 

 roars like a hollow wind, and may be heard 

 at three miles distance. When wounded, it 

 then blows more fiercely than ever, so that it 

 sounds like the roaring of the sea in a great 

 storm. 



We have already observed, that the sub- 

 stance called whalebone, is taken from the 

 upper jaw of the animal, and is very different 

 from the real bones of the whale. The real 

 bones are hard, like those of great land ani- 

 mals, are very porous, and filled with marrow. 

 Two great strong bones sustain the under lip, 

 lying against each other in the shape of a 



