96 THE GRAMPUS, &c. 



sixteen barrels of this valuable commodity. By a simple pro- 

 cess, lately invented, all the oil which it produces may be con- 

 verted into spermaceti. This is said to be performed by boiling 

 it with a lye of potash, and hardening it like soap. Of this sub- 

 stance candles are made, and it is found to be an excellent, as 

 well as a cheap substitute for wax. The ambergris is found 

 where the seminal vessels are usually placed in other animals. 

 It is found in bags of three or four feet long, in round lumps, of 

 from one to fifteen pounds weight : the largest ever seen of these, 

 weighed twenty pounds. This substance is not found in all parts 

 of this species, but only in the oldest and the strongest. The 

 evident utility of the former, and the real or imaginary virtues 

 of the latter of these drugs, have rendered the spermaceti whale 

 an object of considerable importance in the commercial system. 



THE GRAMPUS, THE DOLPHIN, AND THE 

 PORPOISE, 



Seem all to belong to the same genus ; for their characteristic 

 distinctions are not very considerable, and their general history 

 appears to be the same. The grampus, which is the largest of 

 the three, seldom exceeds twenty feet in length, and its head is 

 remarkably flat. The porpoise very much resembles the former 

 in shape, except that its snout is more like that of a hog ; and 

 the whole length of this fish seldom exceeds eight feet. The 

 dolphin likewise bears a striking similitude to both, except that 

 its snout is longer and more pointed. All these fishes have 

 dorsal fins and large heads, and they seem perfectly to agree 

 in their appetites and habits, being equally voracious and active. 



The extraordinary agility of these animals, renders their cap- 

 ture extremely difficult. They seldom remain a moment above 

 water, but their rapacious spirit of depredation sometimes ex- 

 poses them to danger, and a shoal of herrings often allures them 

 out of their depth. In these cases, the voracious animal con- 

 tinues to flounce about in the shallows until the returning tide 

 comes to its relief. All this tribe, and particularly the dolphin, 

 are not less swift than destructive ; and no fish whatever could 

 escape them, but from the awkward position of the mouth, 

 which is placed almost under the head. With this disadvantage, 

 their depredations are so great, that they have justly been styled 

 the plunderers of the ocean. We have, however, already ob- 

 served, that the tyranny which they exercise over a great part 

 of the inhabitants of the deep, is compensated by that which they 

 themselves experience from the cachalot, or spermaceti whale. 



We are told that the grampus, the porpoise, and the dolphin, 

 go ten months with young, and, like the whale, seldom produce 

 above one at a time ; that they live to the age of thirty years 



