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THE WHALE. 



The whale is an unwieldy ill-shaped animal; the head 

 constitutes one third of its length. There are orifices in 

 the middle of the head, from which it spouts water to a 

 prodigious distance, and with great noise especially when 

 disturbed. The eyes, which are not larger than those of 

 an ox, are placed far back in the head; which enables the 

 animal to see objects both before and behind. The tail is 

 broad and semilunar. 



The colour of the whale is not uniform, but admits a 

 great variety of shades, which may be occasioned by age 

 or other accidents. The substance, known by the appella- 

 tion of whale-bone, adheres to the upper jaw, and is com- 

 posed of thin parrallel plates, some of which are four 

 yards long. 



Though the whale is one of the largest of animals, it is 

 at the same time one of the most innoxious. Instead of 

 preying on the other inhabitants of the deep, it appears to 

 subsist solely on insects of the medusae kind. Against its 

 adversaries of the deep, however, it may prevail by force, 

 or escape their malice by artifice ; but the lords of the 

 creation pursue it with dexterous and successful hostility, 

 stimulated by mercantile avarice, or a more laudable wish 

 to supply the wants of human life. It is well known that 

 a number of ships are fitted out annually for the whale 

 fishery on the coast of Greenland, and in the South Sea. 

 The animal is -pierced with a harpoon, to which a long 

 rope is affixed, kept coiled up, and allowed to run off a 

 great length: as often as the wounded whale rises to 

 respire, it receives another harpoon ; till at last it sinks 

 exhausted with fatigue* pain, and loss of blood. The 

 blubber, or fat, is then cut up, and put into barrels, and is 

 afterwards melted into oil. The flesh is of no value, 

 according to our taste : but some of the hyperborean 

 nations consider it as a great delicacy, and even a dead 

 whale, thrown on their shores, as a special blessing of 

 Providence. 



THE SEA UNICORN. 



In size this animal is inferior to the whale, seldom ex- 

 ceeding sixty feet in length, and the body is more slender 



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