.1690.] SAMUEL BOCHART. 25 



Signior Cadamusto says that liis Leviathan was bigger than 

 the "Whale, but the Dispute concerning the Whale and the 

 Leviathan, is about a word only ; for the Animal that in all 

 Languages is call'd a Whale, is the biggest of all Fish, and 

 even of all Animals. And from thence Mr. Bocharf^ writes 

 (Phal. Vol. II. Book I. Chap. I.) that the word Balcine or 

 Whale is a Syriaque word, which signifies Lord of Fishes. 



I cou'd willingly say one word more on this Article, to 

 confute the Error of those who imagine the Whale-bone which 

 Women use in their Stays and Gowns, is taken out of the 

 Tail and Fins of this Fish ; for what I say, I know very well, 

 and that is, the Whale-bone we speak of is never found any 

 where but in the Mouth of several kinds of these Animals 

 which have no Teeth : Enough of this, 'tis time to keep on 

 our way, and that I may not be accus'd here of loving Digres- 

 sions, I shall say nothing of the Battel between the Sword- 

 fish and the Whale, which our Mariners told us of, tlio' it 

 cou'd not properly be call'd a Digression, and the thing is 

 curious enough, much more so than the fighting of Cocks, or 

 that of Dogs and Bears, in which whole Nations take 

 delight. 



The 21st we again met with abundance of Whales, and 

 there was one which I believe scratch'd her self against our 

 Ship,2 but so rudely, that she was flead with it ; she found 

 some Fracture which rub'd off the Skin, for when she was 

 at a Distance from us, we perceiv'd she was all bloody, and 

 her scratching had giv'n our "Vessel a little shake. 



1 Hierozoicon sive Bipartitiim opus de Animalihus S. Scripturse, Geogr. 

 Sacra, sen PhaJeg et Canaan, 3tia editio, Samuel Bochartus, 3 vol. in 2, 

 fol., Lugduni Batavorum, 1692. Balxna is derived from (paWaiva. 



2 A male sperm-whale of the largest size, and probably the guardian 

 of a " school'', rushed repeatedly at an American whaling ship, the 

 Essex, and stove in the planking of her starboard bow, in 1820. — This 

 was a case of assault, which, however, there is nothing to show that 

 Leguat's was. The whale that "scratched" herself against his ship was 

 more likely trying to divest itself of barnacles, with which, like most 

 whales, especially in the South Seas, it was probably beset. 



