THE WHALE. 01 



tivity of speed. The tail is about twenty-four feet broad, and 

 when the whale lies on one side, its stroke is tremendous. The 

 skin of this fish is smooth and black, and in some places marbled 

 with white and yellow, which, running over its surface, has a 

 beautiful effect. The outward, or scarf skin of the whale, is no 

 thicker than parchment; but underneath, another appears about 

 an inch thick, covering the fat or blubber, which lies beneath to 

 the thickness of ten or twelve inches, and when the fish is in 

 health, is of a beautiful yellow colour. The cleft of the mouth 

 is about twenty feet long, which, in general, is about a third 

 part of the animal's length; and the upper-jaw is furnished with 

 barbs, which lie like the pipes of an organ, the greatest in the 

 middle, and the smallest on the sides. These compose the 

 whalebone, the longest spars of which are not less than eighteen 

 feet. The tongue seems but one great lump of fat, and produces 

 several hogsheads of blubber. The eyes are not larger than 

 those of an ox: they are placed towards the back part of the 

 head, — the most convenient situation for enabling them to see 

 before and behind, as well as above, where their food is princi- 

 pally found. They are guarded with eyelids and lashes like 

 those of quadrupeds, and seem to possess great acuteness of 

 sight. Their hearing also appears to be no less perfect ; and 

 they perceive at a great distance any danger that is preparing 

 against them. 



It has already been remarked, that the substance called whale- 

 bone is taken from the upper-jaw of the animal, and is very dif- 

 ferent from its real bones, which are hard like those of large 

 quadrupeds, and full of marrow. Two enormous bones sustain 

 the under-lip, placed against each other in the form of a crescent. 

 These bones are very commonly not less than twenty feet long. 

 They are often seen standing as ornaments in gardens, and are 

 generally mistaken for whales' ribs. 



After nine or ten months of gestation, this huge fish brings 

 forth its young, which it suckles during a whole year, in the same 

 manner as quadrupeds. The food of the whale consists chiefly 

 of a small black insect, about the size of a bean, which is seen 

 floating in clusters on the surface of the waters. 



This enormous fish, however, notwithstanding its prodigious 

 bulk and strength, meets with a number of enemies which it 

 cannot resist. There is a small shell-fish called the water-louse, 

 which sticks to its body, insinuates itself under the skin, and 

 feeds upon its fat. The sword-fish is also one of its most invet 

 erate and terrible enemies. " At the sight of this little animal," 

 says Anderson, " the whale appears agitated in an extraor 

 dinary manner. Wherever it appears, the whale perceives it a< 

 a distance, and flies from it in an opposite direction 



