244 A HISTORY OF 



fifty feet long, which we are certain were often seen about two sen 

 turies ago. They have all been destroyed by the skill of mankind 

 and the species is now dwindled into a race of diminutive animals, 

 from thirty to about eighty feet long. 



The northern seas were once the region to which the greatest of 

 these animals resorted ; but so great has been the slaughter of whales 

 for more than two ages, that they begin to grow thinner every day ; 

 and those that are found there, seem, from their size, not come to 

 their full dimensions. The greatest whales resort to places where 

 they have the least disturbance ; to those seas that are on the oppo- 

 site side of the globe, near the south pole. In that part of the world, 

 there are still to be seen whales that are above a hundred and sixty 

 feet long ; and perhaps even longer might be found in those latitudes 

 near the south pole, to which we have not as yet ventured. 



Taking the whale, however, at the ordinary size of eighty feet 

 long and twenty feet high, what an enormous animated mass it must 

 appear to the spectator ! With what amazement must it strike him, 

 to behold so great a creature gamboling in the deep, with the ease 

 and agility of the smallest animal, and making its way with incredible 

 swiftness ! This is a sight which is very common to those who fre- 

 quent the northern or southern ocean. Yet though this be wonder- 

 ful, perhaps still greater wonders are concealed in the deep, which we 

 have not had opportunities of exploring. These large animals are 

 obliged to show themselves in order to take breath ; but who kno-vs 

 the size of those that are fitted to remain for ever under water, and 

 that have been increasing in magnitude for centuries ! To believe 

 all that has been said of the Sea-Serpent, or the Kraken, would be 

 credulity ; to reject the possibility of their existence, would be pre- 

 sumption. 



The whale is the largest animal of which we have any certain in- 

 formation ; and the various purposes to which, when taken, its different 

 parts are converted, have brought us tolerably acquainted with its 

 history. Of the whale, properly so called, there are no less than seven 

 different kinds; all distinguished from each other by their external 

 figure, or internal conformation. The Great Greenland Whale, with- 

 out a back-fin, and black on thr- back ; the Iceland Whale, without a 

 back-fin, and whitish on the back ; the New-England Whale, with a 

 hump on the back ; the Whale with six humps on the back ; the 

 Fin-fish, with a fin on the hack near the tail ; the Pike-headed Whale, 

 and the Round-lipped Whale. All these differ from each other in 

 figure, as their names obviously imply. They differ also in their man- 

 ner of living ; the fin-fish having a larger swallow than the rest, be- 

 ing more active, slender, and fierce, and living chiefly upon herrings. 

 However, they are none of them very voracious ; and, if compared to 

 the cachalot, that enormous tyrant of the deep, they appear harmless 

 and gentle. The history of the rest, therefore, may be comprised un- 

 der that of the Great Common Greenland Whale, with which we are 

 best acquainted. 



The Great Greenland Whale is the fish, for taking which there are 

 such preparations made in different parts of Europe. It is a large 

 hoavy animal, and the head alone makes a third of its bulk. It is 

 jsually found from sixty to seventy feet long. The fins on each side 



