T7TTTJSATI0N OF FISH. 143 



irerv considerably the circle of his adventurous ex- 

 peditions. As the marvellous has ^iven place to 

 more exact ideas concerning the theatre of his ex- 

 ploits and the nature of his enemies he has felt his 

 audacity increase day by day. He has driven his 

 keels through every inch of the sea's surface, and he 

 has sought to bring the powers ol" the Ocean under 

 the same subjection as those of the earth. He has 

 oifered deadly combat to the whale, and pursued 

 him even into the solitudes of the frozen regions, 

 where some s|)ecies have taken refuge to escape his 

 blows. He derives from nearly all its species a great 

 profit by melting down their grease and their liver to 

 extract an oil. The thick skin of the greater num- 

 ber of whales is converted to numerous uses ; the fins 

 of the balaena, the spermaceti lodged in the head 

 of the cachalot, the ambergris which forms in the in- 

 testines of that animal when he is ill, are among the 

 articles of commerce furnished by the whale species. 

 It is to the pursuit of these treasures that we are 

 indebted, in a great degree, for our exact knowledge 

 of the habits of these marine monsters. Between 

 some of them there prevails a sufficiently good un- 

 derstanding, but others appear to live in continual 

 warfare ; each being ready, at an instant's notice, to 

 preci[)itate itself upon the other when they meet. 

 Such appears to be the case with the bal»»na, c»r 



