BOOK IX.] History of Nature. 1 1 1 



ship, showed the Bones of that Beast to which Andromeda 1 is 

 said to have been exposed ; and which were brought to Rome 

 from Joppe, a Town in Judaea : in Length they were forty 

 Feet, and in Height they exceeded the Ribs of the Indian 

 Elephant ; the Bone of the Spine was a Foot-and-half thick. 



CHAPTER VI. 

 Of Balance and Orcce. 



BALJEN^E come even into our Seas also. They say that 

 in the Ocean about Gades, they are not seen before Mid- 

 winter ; for at their set Times they lie close in a certain calm 

 and large Bay, where they wonderfully delight to show 

 themselves. The Orcae know this ; they are a Beast that 

 are a deadly Enemy to the others ; and their Likeness can- 

 not be represented by any other Figure than that of a 

 mighty Lump of Flesh, armed with terrible Teeth. These 

 break into those secret Retreats, and bite and tear the young 

 Calves, or those newly born, with the old ones that are 

 great with Young; they also pierce into them, like Ships of 

 War attacking with their Prows. The Balaenge (Whales) 

 that cannot turn aside, and are helpless to resist, being 

 unwieldy by reason of their own Weight, being then heavy 

 with Young, or weak with the Pains of Parturition, know 

 no other Means of Safety but to escape into the Deep, and 

 so defend themselves by the Aid of the whole Ocean. On 

 the other Side, the Orcae endeavour to lie between them and 

 the Way of Escape, and kill them among the Straits and 

 ragged Rocks, to drive them upon the Shallows, or force 

 them upon the Stones. When these Combats are seen, the 



1 See B. v. c. 13, vol. ii. p. 67. When it became an object of political 

 importance to occupy and amuse the public attention by subjects alien to 

 the affairs of government, every thing which could minister to the curio- 

 sity of the people was sought for in the wide range of the Roman empire, 

 and brought to the city ; where the credulity of the populace was equal 

 to its ignorance. The supposed relics of this monster may have been the 

 fossil bones of some gigantic animal : or perhaps nothing more than the 

 bones of a whale. Wern. Clnb. 



