Sl-ITZHEKGEN AND GREENLAND. 101 



the ships, so that one may push at them with a stick ; and 

 they keep up with a ship for a long time, which other fishes 

 do not, for when they see the ships they are afraid of them : 

 they all swim against the wind, as iohalc8,jinnjisli, and dol- 

 phins. I am of ojiinion that they endeavour to run away 

 from the storm, and that they find some pain or other in 

 their bodies some days before, for you shall see some fish 

 tumble about strangely in the water, which I do not take to 

 be playing, and this generally continues until their tor- 

 mentor, the east ivind, ceases. We saw another sort of great 

 fishes, that might rightly be called bntskoj)/, for their head 

 is quite blunt before, and have a finn that stands up three 

 times higher than the' other buts/cojjf has ; they are some- 

 what of a dark brown colour, but of the same bigness. We 

 saw them tumble several times out of the water ; one might 

 easily take them, because of their high finn that stands on 

 the top of their back : they are not sicord-Jish, nor of the 

 same kind we call tumblers, which we see between the Elbe 

 and Hihjeland. 



5. Of the White-Fish.i 



I do not by this name mean the fish we call so here in our 

 country, that are but small, but I mean a bigger sort, as large 

 as a butshopf, in shape like a whale, and without finns on his 

 back ; he hath two finns on his belly, as I am informed by 

 others that have caught them. The tail is like unto a whale's : 

 he hath a spout hole on his head : he hath also an hoffel on 

 his head like a whale. He is of a yellowish white colour. 

 He hath fat enough in proportion to his bigness : I was told 

 by them that had caught one, that they did fill a barrel of 

 fat from one ; but this fat is very soft, and the harpoon 

 easily breaks out, wherefore they do not care to catch them. 



^ The Beluga Catodon Gray ; the uortheru Beluga, a species which 

 Init seldom visits the British seas. 



