CETACEOUS FISHES. 



619 



are sometimes seen floating in clusters on the 

 surface of the water. They are of a round 

 form, like snails in a box, but they have wings, 

 which are so tender, that it is scarcely pos- 

 sible to touch them without breaking. These 

 serve rather for swimming than flying; and 

 the little animal is called by the Icelanders, 

 the Walfuchoas, which signifies the whale's 

 provender. Thy have the taste of raw mus- 

 cles, and have the smell of burnt sugar. These 

 are the food of the whale, which it is seen to 

 draw up in great numbers with its huge jaws, 

 and to bruise between its barbs, which are 

 always found with several of these sticking 

 among them. 



This is the simple food of the great Green- 

 land whale; it pursues no other animal, leads 

 an inoffensive life in its element, and is harm- 

 less in proportion to its strength to do mis- 

 chief. There seems to be an analogy between 

 its manners and those of the elephant. They 

 are both the strongest and (he largest ani- 

 mals in their respective elements ; neither 

 offer injury, but are terrible when provoked 

 to resentment. The fin-fish indeed, in some 

 measure, differs from the great whale in this 

 particular, as it subsists chiefly upon herrings, 

 great shoals of which it is often seen driving 

 before it. Yet even the swallow of this fish 

 is not very large, if compared to the cachalot 

 tribe; and its ravages are but sports in com- 

 parison. The stomach and intestines of all 

 these animals, when opened, setdom have any 

 thing in them, except a soft unctuous substance 

 of a brownish colour; and their excrements 

 are of a shining red. 



As the whale is an inoffensive animal, it is 

 not to be wondered that it has many enemies, 

 willing to take advantage of its disposition, 

 and inaptitude for combat. There is a small 

 animal, of the shell-fish kind, called the Whale- 

 louse, that sticks to its body, as we see shells 

 sticking to the foul bottom of a ship. This 

 insinuates itself chiefly under the fins: and 

 whatever efforts the great animal makes, it 

 still keeps its hold, and lives upon the fat, 

 which it is provided with instruments to ar- 

 rive at. 



The sword-fish, however, is the whale's 

 most terrible enemy. " At the sight of this 

 little animal," says Anderson, ' the whale 

 seems agitated in an extraordinary manner; 



MO. S3 & 54. 



leaping from the water as if with affright: 

 wherever it appears, the whale perceives it 

 at a distance, and flies from it in the opposite 

 direction. I have been myself," continues he, 

 " a spectator of their terrible encounter. The 

 whale has no instrument of defence except 

 the tail; with that it endeavours to strike the 

 enemy ; and a single blow taking place, would 

 effectually destroy its adversary: but the 

 sword-fish is as active as the other is strong, 

 and easily avoids the stroke; then bounding 

 into the air, it falls upon its great subjacent 

 enemy, and endeavours not to pierce with its 

 pointed beak, but to cut it with its toothed 

 edges. The sea all about is seen dyed with 

 blood, proceeding from the wounds of the 

 whale ; while the enormous animal vainly en- 

 deavours to reach its invader, and strikes 

 with its tail against the surface of the water, 

 making a report at each blow louder than the 

 noise of a cannon." 



There is still another and more powerful 

 enemy, called by the fishermen of New-Eng- 

 land, the Killer. This is itself a cetaceous 

 animal, armed with strong and powerful teeth. 

 A number of these are said to surround the 

 whale, in the same manner as dogs get round 

 a bull. Some attack it with their teeth be- 

 hind ; others attempt it before, until, at last, 

 the great animal is torn down, and its tongue 

 is said to be the only part they devour when 

 they have made it their prey. They are 

 said to be of such great strength, that one of 

 them alone was known to stop a dead whale 

 that several boats were towing along, and 

 drag it from among them to the bottom. 



But of all the enemies of these enormous 

 fishes, man is the greatest : he alone destroys 

 more in a year than the rest in an age, and 

 actually has thinned their numbers in that 

 part of the world where they are chiefly sought. 

 The great resort of these animals, was found 

 to be on the inhospitable shores of Spitzber- 

 gen; where the distance of the voyage, the 

 coldness of the climate, the terrors of the icy 

 sea, and, still more, their own formidable bulk, 

 might have been expected to protect them 

 from human injury. But all these were but 

 slight barriers against man's arts, his courage, 

 and his necessities. The European ships, 

 soon after the improvement of navigation, 

 found the way iuto those seaa; and as early 

 4T 



