HISTORY OF THE WHALE. 



with the boat /rolled it over occasionally, and thus plunged 

 the crew repeatedly into the water. Four of them, after each 

 immersion, recovered themselves and clung to the boat : but 

 the other three were drowned before assistance could arrive. 

 The four men being rescued, the attack on the whale was 

 continued, and two more harpoons were struck. But the 

 whale, irritated instead of being enervated by its wounds, 

 recommenced its furious attack. The sea was in foams : 

 its tail and fins were in awful play; and. in a short time, 

 harpoon after harpoon drew out, and the fish escaped. 



We produce the following account, not because we be- 

 lieve it refers to the Greenland whale, (we think it did not) 

 but because the adventure elicited the statement that the 

 same feat is often, exhibited by it ; as is true, we believe, 

 of all the larger genera. Dr. Foster, indeed, in Cook's 

 Voyages, very clearly tells us he saw it in the southern ror- 

 qual, as will be found in our account of that animal. The 

 following anecdote is extracted from the interesting frag- 

 ment of Captain Bazil Hall, and occurred when that 

 gentleman was midshipman on board an English ship 

 of war, the Leander, which was lying at the time in the 

 roads of Bermuda. As on the former occasion, a great 

 whale, between fifty and sixty feet in length, which was 

 embayed within the coral rocks, and swimming about the 

 vessel, soon attracted the attention of the crew. All hands 

 crowded into the rigging to see it floundering about, till 

 at length some one proposed to pay him a visit in one of 

 the ship's boats, "and away -we (viz. some of the mid- 

 shipmen,) went," says the Captain, "in our wild-goose 

 whale-chase. All eyes were now upon us, and, after a 

 pause, it was agreed unanimously that we should run im- 

 mediately on him and take our chance. So we rowed for- 

 ward, but the whale slipped down out of sight, leaving 

 only a monstrous pool, in the yortex of which we continued 

 whirling about for some time. As we were lying on our 

 oars, and somewhat puzzled what to do next, we beheld 



