486 GKfcAT MYSTICETE. 



quite so dry as that of tlie body. When we have 

 a mind to cat of a Whale we cut great pieces off 

 before the tail M -here it is four-square, and boil it 

 like other meat : good beef I prefer far before it, 

 yet rather than be starved I advise to eat Whale's 

 tlesh ; for none of our men dyed of it, and the 

 Frenchmen did cat it almost daily; flinging it on 

 the tops of their tubs, and letting it lie till it was 

 black ; and vet eating it in that condition. The 



L. O 



ll<-li of the Whale, like that of Seals, is alone, or 

 by itself; and the fat at the top thereof between 

 the flesh and skin. The fat is about six inches 

 thick on the back and belly; but I have also 

 seen it a foot thick on the iins, and more than 

 two feet on the under lip ; but Whales vary in 

 this respect, like other animals, according to size 

 and health. In the fat arc interspersed little 

 sinews, which hold the oil, as a spunge does 

 water, which one may squeeze out : the other 

 strong sinews are chiefly about the tail, v, here it is 

 thinnest, for with it he turns and winds himself 

 about, as a ship is turned by the rudder; his iins 

 being his oars, and according to his si/e he rows 

 himself along with them as swiftly as a bird flies, 

 and maketh a long track in the sea, as a great 

 .ship doth when under sail ; so that it remains di- 

 \idid for awhile. Over the fat is, besides the 

 uppermost skin already described, another skin, 

 about an inch thick, proportionable to the size of 

 the Whale. It is coloured according to the co- 

 lour of the animal : if the Whale be black this is 

 black also: if on the contrary the outward or 



