OF CETACEOUS FISHES. 4^ 



fuflicient to overfet a iliip ; and the noife it occafions, is 

 heard like the difcharge of cannon, at the dillance of 

 fome miles. 



Animals of fuch enormous flrength and magnitude, 

 we niight imagine, would fpread terror and devaflation 

 all around them, and make an indifcriminate flaughter 

 of the inferior tribes. No creature, however, is lefs vo- 

 racious than the common whale : Almofl no animal fub- 

 flance is ever found in its flomach ; it feeds, as fome al- 

 lege, upon different infe<3:s that float on the fi-irface ; ac- 

 cording to others, upon the viedufa or fea-blubber *. 

 Its food, we are certain, muft be extremely minute, for 

 the capacity of its throat does not exceed four inches, a 

 fize beyond all proportion, fmaller than that of other 

 fifh. 



The fmall quantity of food that fuffices the whale, may 

 juftly furprife us, when we conljder tlieir fize, and the 

 numbers of thefe animals that often herd together. Had 

 their voracity been proportioned to their bulk and num- 

 bers, the ocean itfelf would hardly have afforded a fuffi- 

 cient fupply. The infefts upon which they feed, are 

 black, and about the fize of a bean : They are of a round 

 form, like fnails in f.heir fhells, and are feen floating in 

 clufters together upon the waves. Thefe, the whale 

 fucks up in great numbers, and brulfes them with the 

 barbs or pipes with which its mouth is internally cover- 

 ed \. Nouriibed with this food, it becomes the fattcfl of 

 all animals, whether terrefcrial or aquatic. 



To a flender appetite, the whale adds peaceable and 

 harmlefs manners : it purfues no other filb, but leads an 

 eafy and indolent life on the bofom of the waves, and is 



inofFenfive, 



• Y'ids I,in. vSyftema Nat. f Goldfmith's Nat. Hlft, 



