THE WHALE. 



255 



it. Yet even the swallow of this fish is not 

 very large, if compared to the cachalot tribe ; 

 and its ravages are but sports in comparison. 

 The stomach and intestines of all these ani- 

 mals, when opened, seldom have any thing in 

 them, except a soft unctuous substance of a 

 brownish colour ; and their excrements are of 

 a shining red. 



As the whale is an inoffensive animal, it is 

 not to be wondered that it has many enemies 

 willing to take advantage of its disposition, 

 and inaptitude for combat. There is a small 

 animal, of the shell-fish kind, called the 

 Whale-louse, that sticks to its body, as we see 

 shells sticking to the foul bottom of a ship. 

 This insinuates itself chiefly under the fins ; 

 and whatever efforts- the great animal makes, 

 it still keeps its hold, and lives upon the fat, 

 which it is provided with instruments to ar- 

 rive at. 



The sword-fish r however, is the whale's most 

 terrible enemy. " At the sight of this little 

 animal," says Anderson, " the whale seems 

 agitated in an extraordinary manner ; leaping 

 from the water as if with affright : wherever 

 it appears, the whale perceives it at a distance, 

 and flies from it in the opposite direction. I 

 have been myself," continues he, " a spectator 



whale, laid on those brought into the port of Biarritz, to 

 indemnify him for the extraordinaiy expenses he had 

 incurred in fitting out a fleet for the service of his ma- 

 jesty. The Biscayans, however, soon gave up the whale- 

 fishing, from the want of fish, which ceased to come 

 southward, no longer leaving the icy seas. The voyages 

 of the Dutch and English to the Northern ocean, in 

 order to discover a passage through it to India, though 

 they failed in their primary object, laid open the remote 

 haunts of the whale. The Muscovy company now ob- 

 tained a royal charter, prohibiting all vessels but theirs 

 from fishing in the seas round Spitzbergen, under pre- 

 tence that it was discovered by Sir Hugh Willoughby. 

 The fact, however, was, that Barentz discovered it in 

 1596; and the company, after several severe and bloody 

 encounters, soon found themselves beaten from the 

 ground by the Dutch, who being left quietly and undis- 

 turbed to prosecute the fishery, soon acquired a decided 

 superiority over other nations, and towards the year 1680 

 employed in it about two hundred and sixty ships and 

 fourteen thousand sailors. The Muscovy company was 

 soon succeeded by another association no less fortunate. 

 In 1725, the South sea company embarked largely in 

 the trade, and prosecuted it for eight years, when, having 

 lost a large sum, they gave it up. The legislature now 

 resolved to support the trade : in 1732, a bounty of 20s. 

 a ton was granted to ships engaged in it. In 1749, 

 this was raised to 40s., when, observes Mr Macculloch, 

 as many ships were fitted out for catching the bounty as 

 for catching fish. In 1777, this bounty was reduced to 

 30s.; the consequence of which was, that during the next 

 five years the number of ships employed in the trade was 

 reduced from one hundred and five to thirty-nine! In 

 1781, the bounty was raised again to its old level; and 

 an inducement being thus held out for making money in 

 an easy but factitious way, the trade was soon restored 

 to its apparent prosperous state. The American war 

 now impeded thefisheries, and in 17S7, 1792, and 1795, 

 *he bounty was again decreased ; in 1S24, it ceased al- 

 together. 



of their terrible encounter. The whale has 

 no instrument of defence except the tail ; with 

 that it endeavours to strike the enemy ; and a 

 single blow taking place, would effectually 

 destroy its adversary : but the sword-fish is as 

 active as the other is strong, and easily avoids 

 the stroke; then bounding into the air, it falls 

 upon its great subjacent enemy, and endea- 

 vours not to pierce with its pointed beak, but 

 to cut it with its toothed edges. The sea all 

 about is seen dyed with blood, proceeding 

 from the wounds of the whale; while the enor- 

 mous animal vainly endeavours to reach its 

 invader, and strikes with its tail against the 

 surface of the water, making-a report at each 

 blow louder than the noise of a cannon. 



There is still another and more powerful 

 enemy, called by the fishermen of New-Eng- 

 land, the Killer. This is itself a cetaceous 

 animal, armed with strong and powerful teeth. 

 A number of these are said to surround the 

 whale, in the same manner as dogs get round 

 a bull. Some attack it with their teeth be- 

 hind ; others attempt it before, until at last 

 the great animal is torn down, and its tongue 

 is said to be the only part they devour when 

 they have made it their prey. They are said 

 to be of such great strength, that one of them 

 alone was known to stop a dead whale that 

 several boats were towing along, and drag it 

 from among them to the bottom. 



But of all the enemies of these enormous 

 fishes, man is the greatest : he alone destroys 

 more in a year than the rest in an age, and 

 actually has thinned their numbers in that 

 part of the world where they are chiefly sought. 

 The great resort of these animals was found 

 to be on the inhospitable shores of Spitzber- 

 gen ; where the distance of the voyage, the 

 coldness of the climate, the terrors of the icy 

 sea, and, still more, their own formidable bulk, 

 might have been expected to protect them from 

 human injury. But all these were but slight 

 barriers against man's arts, his courage, and 

 his necessities. The European ships, soon 

 after the improvement of navigation, found 

 the way into those seas ; and as early as the 

 beginning of the fourteenth century, the Bis- 

 cayneers were in possession of a very consid- 

 erable trade to the coast of Greenland. The 

 Dutch and the English followed them thither, 

 and soon took that branch of commerce out of 

 their hands. The English commenced the 

 business about the beginning of the seventeenth 

 century ; and the town of Hull had the honour 

 of first attempting that profitable branch of 

 trade. But, at present, it seems upon the de- 

 cline, as the quantity of fish is so greatly re- 

 duced, by the constant capture for such a vast 

 length of time. It is now said that the fishers, 

 from a defect of whales, apply themselves to 

 the seal-fishery ; yet, as these animals are ex- 



