SP1T/,15KKGEN AND GRKENLANl). 115 



any man, but when he is in danger ; what then he dolh is of 

 necessity, and then he doth not value a man no more than a 

 sand nor a long-boat, for he doth beat them all into splinters. 

 His strength may be guessed by the fishermen that catch 

 with great nets other fishes, when they are going to draw 

 their nets toAvards the land, what a great strength they must 

 use, which is nothing at all to be compared to his strength. 

 The whale doth swim sometimes away with some thousand 

 fathoms of rope-line, swifter a great deal than a ship can sail, 

 or a bird can fly, so that it makes their heads giddy ; yet a 

 great ship is too many for him, for although he should strike 

 against it with his tail, yet it doth him more hurt than he 

 doth the ship. 



The ichales keep in the spring westward from Spitzhergcn, 

 near Old Greenland and the Island of John Majcn, then they 

 run eastwards to Spitzhergen : after them come the ^nn-^sh, 

 and then there is no moi'e ivhcdes seen. It is probable they 

 go after a tolerable cold place ; for after that I have seen 

 jinn-jish in the Spanish Sea, in the year 1671, in the month 

 of December, and in the year 1672 in January, and also 

 afterA\ards in the year 1673 in the Straights of Gihr alter in 

 March, and also in the Mediterranean. 



He swims against the wind, as all other tohales or great 

 fish do. The sicord-fish is his mortal enemy ; he might 

 rather be called comh-jish, because his long tooth is on each 

 side full of teeth or prickles, most like a comb. In our 

 home-voyage to Hamburg I saw an example of this enmity 

 of a Nortli-caper lohale and a sicord-Jish, near to Uitland ; 

 they fought and struck at one another so vehemently that 

 the water flew about like dust, sometimes one, sometimes the 

 other was uppermost ; the Aveather Avas a little stormy, or 

 else we had stay'd to see the end of the battel, so Ave were 

 forc'd to leave them. The dead lohale kill'd by the sicord- 

 fsh stinks at a great distance, but not presently, and those 

 that have been Avounded some days before they are caught 



