FISHES IN GENERAL. 243 



Btrength, forced over the shallow into the depths of the ocean. Bu 

 though in safety herself, she could not bear the danger that awaited 

 her young one ; she therefore rushed in once more where the smaller 

 animal was imprisoned, and resolved, when she could not protect, at 

 least to share its danger. The story ends with poetical justice ; for 

 the tide coming in, brought off both in safety from their enemies, 

 though not without sustaining an infinite number of wounds in every 

 part. 



As to the rest, the distinctive marks of this tribe are, that the num- 

 ber of their fins never exceeds three ; namely, two pectoral fins, and 

 one back fin ; but in some sorts the last is wanting. These fins dif- 

 fer very much from those of other fishes, which are formed of straight 

 spines : the fins of the cetaceous tribe are made up of bones and mus- 

 cles ; and the skeleton of one of their fins very much resembles the 

 skeleton of a man's hand. Their tails also are different from those of 

 all other fish : they are placed so as to lie flat on the surface of the 

 water; while the other kinds have them, as we every day see, up- 

 right or edgewise. This flat position of the tail in cetaceous animals, 

 enables them to force themselves suddenly to the surface of the water 

 to breathe, which they are continually constrained to do. 



Of these enormous animals, some are without teeth, and properly 

 called whales ; others have the teeth only in the lower jaw, and are 

 called, by the French, cachalots : the narwhale has teeth only in the 

 upper jaw; the dolphin's teeth, as well as those of the porpoise and 

 grampus, are both above and below. These are the marks that serve 

 to distinguish the kinds of this enormous tribe from each other ; and 

 these shall serve to guide us in giving their history. 



CHAPTER III. 



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 existed 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 ter- 

 restrial animals twice as large as the elephant ; but creatures of such 

 an immense bulk required a proportionable extent of ground for sub- 

 sistence ; 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 de- 

 stroying the larger tribes of Animated Nature : he has extended his 

 efforts, even in the midst of the ocean, and has cut off numbers of 

 these enormous animals that had, perhaps, existed for ages. We 

 now no longer hear of whales two hundred, and two hundred and 



VOL. III. V 



