206 LIEUT. MAURY. 



of time, are succeeded by a third series, which are 

 again followed by others. 



Now, whales possess no such weapons. Their 

 enormous mouths are not filled with ' tusks or 

 grinders, but fitted instead with vast numbers of 

 oblique laminae of a softer substance, usually deno- 

 minated whalebone, which is admirably adapted for 

 the crushing and masticating of soft bodies.' 



To give an idea of the amazing extent of the 

 harvests of ' whale food/ as the Medusae are termed, 

 that abound in various parts of the ocean, we need only 

 quote the evidence of various navigators on the sub- 

 ject. One (Lieut. Maury), for example, states, that 

 on the coast of Florida he met with a shoal of these 

 animals, that covered the sea for many leagues, 

 through which his vessel, bound for England, was 

 five or six days in passing. The most singular part 

 of the story is that, on his return some sixty days 

 after, he fell in with the same shoal off the Western 

 Islands, and here again he was three or four days 

 in getting clear of them. 



The Western Islands here mentioned are, it seems, 

 the great resort for whales ; and ' at first there is 

 something curious to us in the idea that the Gulf of 

 Mexico is the harvest field, and the Gulf Stream the 

 gleaner which collects the fruitage planted there, and 

 conveys it thousands of miles off to the living whales 

 at sea. But, perhaps, perfectly in unison is it with 

 the kind and providential care of that great, good 



