■H}2 Hisroiiv OF 



way with incredible swiftness ! This is a sight \vhi(;h is very 

 common to those who frequent the northern or southern ocean. 

 Yet though this be wonderful, perhaps still greater wonders are 

 concealed in the deep, which we have not had opportunities of 

 exploring. These large animals are obliged to show themselves 

 in order to take breath ; but who knows the size of those that 

 are fitted to remain for ever under water, and that have been in- 

 creasing in magnitude for centuries ! To believe all that has 

 been said of the Sea- Serpent, or the Kraken, would be credu- 

 lity ; to reject the possibility of their existence, would be pre- 

 sumption. 



The Whale is the largest animal of which we have any certain 

 information ; and the various purposes to which, when taken, 

 its different parts are converted, have brought us tolerably ac- 

 quainted with its history. Of the whale, properly so called, 

 there are no less than seven different kinds ; all distinguished 

 from each other by their external figure, or internal conformation. 

 The Great Greenland Whale, without a back-fin, and black on 

 the back ; the Iceland Whale, without a back fin, and whitish 

 on the back ; the New-England Whale, with a hump on the 

 back ; the Whale with six humps on the back ; the Fin-fish, 

 with a fin on the back near the tail; the Pike-headed Whale, 

 and the Round-lipped Whale. All these differ from each other 

 in figure, as their names obviously imply. They differ also 

 somewhat in their manner of living ; the fin-fish having a larger 

 swallow than the rest, being more active, slender, and fierce, and 

 living chiefly upon herrings. However, there are none of them 

 very voracious ; and, if compared to the cachalot, that enormous 

 tyrant of the deep, they appear harmless and gentle. The his- 

 tory of the rest, therefore, may be comprised under that of the 

 Great Common Greenland Whale, with which we are best ac- 

 quainted. 



The Great Greenland Whale is the fish, for taking which 

 there are such preparations made in different parts of Europe. 

 It is a large heavy animal, and the head alone makes a third of 

 its bulk. It is usually found from sixty to seventy feet long. 

 The fins on each side are from five to eight feet, composed of 

 bones and muscles, and sufficiently strong to give the great mass 

 of body which they move, speed and activity. The tail, which 

 lies fiat on the water, is about twenty-four feet broad; and, when 



