2ia CETACEOUS FISHES. 



infe^ls are black, and of the fize of a fmall bean, and are fonaetimes fees 

 floating in clufters on the furface of the water. They are round, like 

 fnails in a box ; but they have wings, which are fo tender that it is fcarce 

 poffible to touch them without breaking. Thefe ferve rather for fwim- 

 ming than flying J and the little aninnal is called by the Icelanders the 

 "Walfifchoas, which fignifies the whale's provender. They have the tafte 

 of raw mulTcls, and have the fnnell of burnt fugar. Thefe are the food 

 of the whale,- which it is feen to draw up in great nunnbers with its huge 

 jaws, and to bruife between its barbs, which are always found with feve- 

 ral of thefe fiiicking among them. 



As the whale is an inofi'enfive animal, it is not to be wondered that it 

 has many enemies, willing to take advantage of its difpofition, and in- 

 aptitude for combat. There is a fmall animal, of the fhell-fifh kind, 

 called the Whale-loufe, thatfliicks to its body, and infinuates itfelf chiefly 

 under the fins ; and whatever efforts the great animal makes, it ftill keeps 

 its hold, and lives upon the fat. The faw-fifb, however, is the wbale's 

 moft terrible enemy. At the fight of this animal, fays Andcrfon, the 

 whale feems agitated in an extraordinary manner j leaping from the water 

 as if with affright: wherever it appears, the whale perceives it at a difl;ance, 

 and flies from it. ** I have been myfelf," continues he, '« a fpedator of 

 their terrible encounter. The whale has no infl:rument of defence except 

 the tail; with that it endeavours to fl:rike the enemy; and a fingle blow- 

 taking place, would effedually deftroy its adverfary : but the faw-fifli is 

 as aftive as the other is ftrong, and eafily avoids the ftroke ; then bound- 

 ing into the air, it falls upon its great fubjacent enemy, and endeavours, 

 not to pierce with its pointed beak, but to cut with its toothed edges. The 

 feaall about is foon dyed with blood, proceeding from the wounds of the 

 ■whale; while the enormous animal vainly endeavours to reach its invader, 

 and ftrikes with its tail againfl; the furface of the water, making a report 

 at each blow louder than the noife of a cannon." 



There is ftill another and more powerful enemy, called, by the fifher- 

 men of New England, the Killer. This is itfelf a cetaceous animal, arm- 

 ed with fl:rongand powerful teeth. A number of thefe are faid to furround 

 the whale, in the fame manner as dogs get round a bull. Some attack 

 it with their teeth behind ; others attempt it before; until, at laft, the 

 great animal is torn down, and its tongue is faid to be the only part they 

 devour when they have made it their prey. They are faid to be of fuch 

 great itrength, that one of them alone was known to Hop a dead whale 



that 



