189 



They are saul to be an efficacious remedy for the 

 tooth-ache, by holding the point of one of them 

 to ; , aCec'ed tootli. 



Notwithstandnig the v*'hale belongs to the 

 class of hictlferoLis animals, I have thought 

 proper to notice it in this piacCj as many authors, 

 from its external conformation, have ranked it 

 among fishes. The species that frequent the Chi- 

 lian seas are the great whale ( balaena mysticctus) 

 called by the Araucanians yene ; tlie little whale 

 (balaena boons) called icol, and the three known 

 species of the dolphin. Both these kinds of 

 whale are very common in that sea, and at certain 

 seasons they are seen in great numbers, particu- 

 larly near tii.e months of rivers, whither they 

 come in quest of fish. 



The late English navigators speak of the great 

 quantity of whales which they met with upon the 

 coast of Terra del Fucgo, and in the Straits of 

 ^Magellan; and in the account of Captain Cook's 

 last voyage, the little Vrhale is particularly men- 

 tioned. I have good reason to believe that, be- 

 sides the two kinds of- vvliales above mentioned, 

 u\\ the species discovered in the northern may 

 likewise be uxriul in the southern sens : but as the 

 Chilians have never paid attention to the whale 

 fishery, 1 am not able to assert ii with positive- 

 r.css, nor to detf^nuinetlie diflerence, if there be 

 icwy, betv. cen tlie northern and soiiiiicrn vvliale; 

 this JONvever, i- certain, ihd Um^. whah'-: of ^he 



