474 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



They advance and retreat with the velocity of an arrow, 

 and the eye can with difficulty follow their varied evolutions. 



In the combat, fear, fury, or pain, draw from them such 

 profound groans, or piercing hissing cries, that their con- 

 geners are attracted in crowds from all sides, continue the 

 fight with fresh ardour and audacity, and stain the waters 

 with blood often to the distance of many leagues. 



Notwithstanding their natural ferocity, all the Cachalots 

 exhibit for their consimilars, an extreme attachment. They 

 voyage together in numerous troops, in peace and mutual 

 good understanding. The largest or strongest always leads 

 the phalanx, and gives the signal of combat, retreat, or 

 victory. The male and female entertain for each other a 

 reciprocal affection, which nothing but death can alter. 

 They both partake the sentiment of mutual affection for 

 their young, which is a constant object of their solicitude. 

 The mother suckles her offspring with the utmost care, 

 teaches it to swim, and when it appears tired, carries it in 

 her arms with much show of affection, combats with as- 

 tonishing courage in its defence, and never separates from 

 it until it can dispense with her maternal cares. 



The females of almost all the species, bring forth but a 

 single young one at a birth, and the time of gestation for 

 all, is nine or ten months. 



The food of the great majority of these animals consists 

 in fish, such as pleuronectes, cod, fyc, and also in mollusca. 

 There are some, however, among the Cachelots that pur- 

 sue seals, and some are sufficiently audacious to attack many 

 species of the Balsense, especially such individuals as are 

 not adult. 



The people of the north, Laplanders and Groenlanders 

 in particular, subsist very much upon the flesh of the Ca- 

 chalots which they dry in the smoke and consider an exqui- 

 site and delicate viand. They also feed upon the fat, the 

 entrails, and the skin. The European navigators pursue 



