192 MAMMALIA. 
from a single whale. Sliell-fish attach themselves to its skin, and 
multiply there as on a rock, and some of the Balanus family even 
penetrate into it. It is asserted that these enormous animals feed 
exclusively on very small Mollusca, which swarm, it is true, in the 
seas they inhabit. Their excrement is of a beautiful red colour, 
and affords a tolerable die for linen.* 
Other species (BAL#ZNopTERA, Lacep.) havea dorsal fin: they are also 
again subdivided into such as have a smooth belly, and those in which it 
is wrinkled. The 
BaLtznorrera, with a smooth belly. 
Are closely allied to the whales, properly so called. One only is cited, 
the 
Balena physalus, Finnfisch of the Dutch; copied from Martens, 
by Anderson, Bonnaterre, and others; Lacep. I. fig. ii. (Razor- 
back of British sailors, or Giblar.) As long as the common whale, 
* It is from an erroneous interpretation of certain passages of Martens and Zorg- 
drager, that naturalists have made a peculiar species of the Nord-Caper, which 
should be a northern whale more slender than the common one; but in the Antarc- 
tic Seas there is a species very similar to the Common Whale, which the Hollanders 
of the Cape also call Nord-Caper. See Oss. Foss. p. 361, 363. 
and obliges the other boats to await its return to the surface, before any further at- 
tack can be made. It is afterwards actively plied with lances, which are thrust into 
its body, aiming at its vitals. At length, when exhausted by numerous wounds and 
the loss of blood which flows from the huge animal in copious streams, it indicates 
the approach of its dissolution by discharging from its blow-holes a mixture of blood 
along with the air and mucus which it usually expires, and finally jets of blood alone, 
The sea to a great extent around is dyed with its blood, and the ice, boats, and men, 
are sometimes drenched with the same. Its track is likewise marked by a broad pel- 
licle of oil, which exudes from its wounds, and appears on the surface of the sea. 
Its final capture is sometimes preceded by a convulsive and energetic struggle, in 
which its tail, reared, whirled, and violently jerked in the air, resounds to the dis- 
tance of miles. In dying, it turns on its back or on its side; which joyful cireum- 
stance is announced by the capturers with the striking of their flags, accompanied 
with three lively huzzas. Whenever a whale lies on the surface of the water, un- 
conscious of the approach of. its enemies, the hardy fisher rows directly upon it, and 
an instant before the boat touches it, buries his harpoon in its back. ‘The wounded 
whale, in the surprise and agony of the moment, makes a convulsive effort to escape. 
Then is the moment of danger. The boat is subjected to the most violent blows 
from its head, or its fins, but particularly from its ponderous tail, which sometimes 
sweeps the air with such tremendous fury, that both boat and men are exposed to 
one common destruction. 'The whale on being struck, immediately dives down into 
the water with great velocity. It appears, from the line which it draws out, that it 
goes down at the rate of eight or ten miles an hour. The moment that the wounded 
whale disappears or leaves ‘the boat, a jack or flag, elevated on a staff, is displayed, 
on sight of which, those on watch in the ship give the pigia by stamping on the 
deck, accompanied by a simultaneous and continued shout of ‘a fall.’ At thesound 
of this the sleeping crew are roused, jump from their beds, rush upon deck, with 
their clothes tied by a string in their hands, and crowd into the boats. With atem- 
perature at zero, should a fall occur, the crew would appear on deck, shielded only 
by their drawers, stockings, and shirts, or other habiliments in which they sleep. 
The alarm of ‘a fall’ has a singular effect on the feelings of a sleeping person, un- 
accustomed to the whale-fishing business. It has often been mistaken as a cry of 
distress, A landsman, in a Hull ship, seeing the crew, on an occasion of a ‘ fall,’ 
rush upon deck, with their clothes in their hands, and leap into the boats, when 
there was no appearance of danger, thought the men were all mad. 
