264 



HISTORY OF FISHES. 



at present, tlie price is greatly fallen ; first 

 because its efficacy in medicine is found to be 

 very small : and again, because the whole oi 

 of the fish is easily convertable into spermaceti. 

 This is performed by boiling it with a ley oi 

 pot-ash, and hardening it in the manner oi 

 soap. Candles are now made of it, which are 

 substituted for wax, and sold much cheaper; 

 so that we need not fear having our spermaceti 

 adulterated in the manner some medical books 

 caution us to beware of; for they carefully 

 guard us against having our spermaceti adul- 

 terated with virgin wax. 



As to the ambergris, which is sometimes 

 found in this whale, it was long considered as 

 a substance found floating on the surface of 

 the sea ; but time, that reveals the secrets of 

 the mercenary, has discovered that it chiefly 

 belongs to this animal. The name, which 

 has been improperly given to the former sub- 

 stance, seems more justly to belong to this ; 

 for the ambergris is found in the place where 

 the seminal vessels are usually situated in 

 other animals. It is found in a bag of three 

 or four feet long, in round lumps from one to 

 twenty pounds weight, floating in a fluid 

 rather thinner than oil, and of a yellowish 

 colour. There are never seen more than four 

 at a time in one of these bags ; and that 

 which weighed twenty pounds, and which 

 was the largest ever seen, was found single. 

 These balls of ambergris are not found in all 

 fishes of this kind, but chiefly in the oldest 

 and strongest. The uses of this medicine 

 for the purposes of luxury, and as a per- 

 fume, are well known ; though upon some 



petites, their manners, and conformations ; 

 being equally voracious, active, and roving. 1 



The great agility of these animals prevents 

 their often being taken. They seldom remain 



1 The Dolphin tribe of cetaceous fishes comprehends 

 about thirteen species, eleven with the dorsal fin, and the 

 others without. Soosoo is the name which the Bengalese 

 about Calcutta give to a species of dolphin found in the 

 Ganges, especially in the slow-moving labyrinth of rivers 

 and creeks which intersect the Delta of that river to the 

 south, south-east and east of Calcutta. The description 

 of this new species we owe to Dr Roxburgh, who dis- 

 tinguishes it by the name of Delphinus Gangeticug. Its 

 body (including the head) is long and slender, thickest 

 about the forepart, and from thence tapering to the tail; 

 from the anus forward nearly round. The skin is soft, 

 smooth, and of a shining pearl-gray when dry, with here 

 and there light-coloured spots or clouds, particularly 

 when old. When the animal is alive, and seen in the 

 act of rising to breathe, it appears much darker. The 

 length of the individual which Dr Roxburgh examined 

 (and which was young, little more than half grown,) was 

 six and a half feet, and at the thickest part, which is 

 rather behind the pectoral fins, three feet in circum- 

 ference. The weight 120 pounds. For Delphinus 

 Phoycena, or Porpoise, see Plate XIV. fig. 22. 



The Common Dolphin. This animal is perhaps better 



<nOwn as the fictitious creature of unrestrained imajji- 



wv *rmm ..*<-r*Tt. . vilV^LAJ-11 UISVII OtJlIHJ . 1C, , , . >~1 f 



-i,K;,,,.*r. ;^.^ t ui r nation and of heroic poetry, than the sober Goose of the 



subjects ignorance is preferable to mforma. 8ca . It is unlfor ^ y iidered as the dolphin of 



tion. 



CHAP. VI. 



OF THE DOLPHIN, THE GRAMPUS AND THE 

 TORPOISE, WITH THEIR VARIETIES. 



ALL these fish have teeth both in the upper 

 and the lower jaw, and are much less than 

 the whale. The Grampus, which is the 

 largest, never exceeds twenty feet. It may 

 also be distinguished by the flatness of its 

 head, which resembles a boat turned upside 

 down. The Porpoise resembles the grampus 

 in most things except the snout, which is not 

 above eight feet long ; its snout also more 

 lesembles that of a hog. The Dolphin has a 

 strong resemblance to the porpoise, except 

 that its snout is longer, and more pointed. 

 They have all fins on the back ; they all have 

 heads very large, like the rest of the whale- 

 kind ; and resemble each other in their ap- 



nntiquity ; the original whence were produced those 

 fantastic beings, endowed with all those extraordinary 

 attributes and charms with which it was clothed. It is 

 the Hieros Ichthys, or Sacred Fish of the Greeks, to 

 which they originally paid divine honours, and which 

 they afterwards embellished with all the illusions of un- 

 bridled fancy. It was also sacred to their god Apollo ; 

 the reason assigned for which is, that when Apollo ap- 

 peared to the Cretans, and obliged them to settle on the 

 coasts of Delphis, where he founded that oracle so famous 

 throughout antiquity, he did so under the form of a dolphin. 

 Apollo w-as thus, according to Visconti, adored not only 

 in connection with the Delphin province, but the Del- 

 phinus fish. He was worshipped at Delphi with dolphins 

 for his symbols. The ancients respected the dolphin 

 as a benefactor of mankind ; they cherished the tale of 

 Phalantus, the founder of Tarentum, being carried on 

 shore by a dolphin when wrecked on the coast of Italy ; 

 and the story of the musician Arion, who, when about 

 to be thrown overboard by the sailors that they might 

 possess themselves of his wealth, begged that he might 

 be permitted to play some melodious tune, and then 

 throw himself into the sea ; upon which one of the many 

 Dolphins, which had been attracted by the music, car- 

 ried him on its hack safe to Tenarus ; or rather, perhaps, 

 according to Ovid, 



Secure he sits, and with harmonious struins 

 Requites his bearer for his friendly pair.?. 



It is also recorded that the shield and sword of Ulysses 



