224 WHALES. 



substance. The termination of the lobes forms a very 

 graceful curve. The one is elegantly convex, and the 

 other concave ; so that the termination of the whole is 

 like the cima recta in architecture. The extent of this 

 organ is immense : the measure, from the tip of the 

 one lobe to that of the other, being, in a large whale, 

 more than twenty feet ; so that it can hit the entire sur- 

 face of a boat at once ; and when it does so, the boat 

 is plunged so deep in the water that it never is seen to 

 rise again to the surface. Though the position of the 

 lobes of the whale's tail be naturally horizontal, and 

 not vertical like the fishes, the oblique tendons can 

 bring it into almost any position. The horizontal 

 position enables it to sink and rise in the water with 

 much more celerity than fishes ; and when the whale 

 is struck by the harpoon of the fisher, it often descends 

 quite perpendicularly to an incredible depth ; and there 

 are instances of its bounding to the surface again so 

 near the spot, as to dash the boat into the air before 

 the crew can guard against that catastrophe. 



Notwithstanding the unwieldy bulk of the whale, 

 and the quantity of fluid which it must displace, its 

 motion through the water is at the rate of about twenty- 

 four miles in an hour ; and while moving at that rapid 

 rate, it continues feeding, so that in six weeks it could 

 circumnavigate the globe. 



The size and structure of the mouth of this animal 

 are both worthy of notice. The gape extends back 

 nearly to the swimming paws ; and the lips, which are 

 firm and cartilaginous, overlap each other so as to form 

 a curve, which is convex toward the one extremity, and 

 concave toward the other. The tongue is of vast size, 



